


Recovery Failed?

by VtheHappyLurker



Series: A Point of Divergence [7]
Category: Mega Man: A Rockman Series (Cartoon), Rockman Megamix | Mega Man Megamix, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Brother/Brother Incest, Canon-Typical Violence, Fantastic Racism, Horny Teenagers, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Incest, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Multi, Off-screen Relationship(s), One-Sided Attraction, Original Character(s), Possessive Behavior, Slash, Stalking, Violence, Virginity Kink, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-10 22:17:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4409837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VtheHappyLurker/pseuds/VtheHappyLurker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of being a 'hero', all Rock wants to be is just a normal teenager. Unfortunately, he's gotta deal with government conspiracies, strange new super-powered Robot Masters, and suddenly very complicated personal life. And to make matters worse, Rock finds himself increasingly on his own as his siblings get caught up in their own problems. (OVA Episode)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cold Reboot

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for waiting and also for all your comments on "Sullen"! Please keep in mind that I haven't listed all the characters and pairings that will be appearing yet, so don't panic.

_March 15 th, 2014 09:13 AM PST_

_Whale Gulch, California_

                Carefully, Rock climbed up on the kitchen counter and inspected the air vent. If he sucked in his gut, he just might be able to squeeze inside and maybe crawl to freedom. But then Rock noticed that the vent wasn’t screwed into the ceiling but welded on. And after a few tentative tugs, he realized that even if he could get leverage, there was no way he could get it off without possibly flooding the whole place.

                He sighed and hopped back down. “Well, so much for Plan G…”

                It had been weeks since Bubble had gone off with Wave to do some ‘maintenance work’, leaving Rock imprisoned deep beneath the ocean. Granted, Bubble’s little home wasn’t really a bad place to stay, but it was still a prison. He’d found that all the phones had been programmed to prevent outgoing calls without a passcode, his cell service was totally blocked, and all attempts to radio out for help never got an answer. Rock had even broken down and tried to hail Bubble directly but only got a response saying he was offline.  

At first, Rock wrote it off being just paranoia but he soon realized that this was probably all part of Bubble’s or (more likely) **_Wiley’s_** plan. It would be easy to keep him cut off down here, far from anyone else and maybe… Well, Rock wasn’t sure what Bubble had **_really_** been plotting to do to him, but it seemed all too probable his intentions really weren’t as honorable as he claimed. So Rock decided that, instead of just sitting around waiting for whatever nastiness lay in store, he was going to get out and go home. Besides, wasn’t the last piece of good advice Blues ever gave him was to trust no one?

Rock was just trying to think up Plan H when the airlock door creaked open behind him. Blaster at the ready, he whirled around and took aim.

“Hello to you too, asshole,” said another Rock Light with glowing red eyes.

“Uh… Hi?” Rock slowly lowered his arm cannon. “Ummm, who are you?”

“I’m Copy. Now let’s go!” He turned and stormed back out.

Rock followed him down a short hall to what looked like a loading dock. He watched Copy open the hatch to a fish-shaped submersible. When he didn’t climb with Copy, the other robot turned to glare at him.

“What the hell is your damage, shit for processors? Download a brain tumor for breakfast? Get in!”

Rock just stared, cannon still charged. “You seriously want me to get in that thing with you, no questions asked?”

Copy gaped at him in shock. “Are you fucking kidding me?! You’re the most stupidly trusting jackass in the world! What’s with being paranoid now?”

“Well, let’s see… I have spent that last two weeks or so locked up by someone I _thought_ was my friend on the orders of a man who’d happily murder my father and do **_worse_** to the rest of my family,” said Rock coldly. “Before that, my first crush asked me out on Valentine’s Day not only to lead me on for his own sick amusement but then revealed he’s merged himself a deranged space monster just to gain more power. Then I get dragged home by my long lost big brother who I kind of was starting to fall in love with.”

Rock paused, laughing coldly. “Then I find out that in reality Blues not only hates me to the point of wanting me dead, but he made it very clear he’s willing to do other, nastier… **_things_** to me both before and after I’m dead. And he doesn’t care if I give my consent or not.  Let’s not forget that my other older brothers’ have all been lying to me and my younger siblings for years about who Blues really was, which makes me wonder what else they’ve been keeping from us ‘for our own good’.”  He went silent, staring off in the distance as the words echoed through the docking bay.

Squirming, Copy started to say something but Rock quickly cut him off.

There was a hollow ring to his voice as he continued. “Now, let us add in a government conspiracy involving deranged robot super-soldiers and there are these ultra-powerful new Robot Masters running around trying to kill my baby brother or something. And I can’t do a goddamn thing about it because they are all keeping me in the dark about everything. **_For my own good_** , of course. And, as the (ha-ha) **_cherry_** on top of this shirt sundae, if I don’t end up getting raped by some lunatic, I’m probably going to die a virgin. Yeah… Pardon the fuck out of me for being a little paranoid.”

“…shit,” Copy muttered as he leaned on the hatch. “You’ve made a pretty good point, asshole. But let’s look things from **_my perspective_** : Lard-ass likely ain’t going to be getting back any time soon, so you’re basically trapped. Now, I would be perfectly happily to leave you to starve and rust, but without lard-ass checking in and re-key the codes, the alarms are going to be triggered. And somebody’s eventually going to come looking…  And then they’re going to find you here, alone, unarmed, and unprotected. And while I’d gladly let you get raped, murdered, and raped again, there’s a chance you might escape. This means that I’m going to have a harder time getting laid because they’ll all be too busy chasing after the **_real_** Mega Man. And I have _needs_ , fucktard. So it’s in both our best interests for me to help get you the fuck out of here as fast as possible.”

Rock stared at him a few minutes more then he climbed into the sub. “I don’t seem to have any alternatives, but if you try anything…” He held his auxiliary cannon towards Copy.

“Whatever, shithead.” Sealing the hatch, Copy started up the sub and they started out into the open water.

 

 

**_***_ ** _Meanwhile, down in the brig…_

“That could’ve gone better…” Fire said as he sat back down on the cot. He frowned angrily at the door. “I just can’t understand it! I’ve been comin’ up here for years to see my cousin and they ain’t never asked for no passports ‘fore. And there sure as hell weren’t no damn patrols either.”

“Well, looks like there are now!” Angrily spearing a soggy bit out of the package the Sniper Joe had given him, Stern reluctantly ate it before gagging. “Oh dear god… I think this crap’s expired. Or they’re trying to starve me to death out of sheer revulsion.”

“I think MRE’s are supposed to taste like shit. And look on the bright side, Gil: at least they’re givin’ you fuel. I ain’t had nuthin’ in days…”

“Don’t call me Gil,” he huffed, sitting aside the questionable food as he took a seat beside Fire. After a long silence, Stern asked, “So, what are you going to do?”

“Sorry?”

“I was asking what you are going to do to get us out of here,” said Stern, begrudging each word. “I mean, we’ve already tried climbing up to the window and neither of can fit in the ducts. So can’t you, I dunno, melt the door or something?”

“I could do that…” Fire said, digging out a nearly empty pack of cigarettes. “Only the convection caused by melting the door would fry yeh like bucket of chicken. Which defeats the purpose of gettin’ both our asses out of here alive.”

“All right, smartass. Then why don’t you just make a little flame? You know, like a blow-torch?”

Fire stared at the door. “Well, that would take care of the fryin’ yer ass problem, but…”

Stern raised an eyebrow at him. “But…?”

“This looks like one of the older doors,” said Fire as he frowned down at the cigarettes sadly. “See, ‘fore Wiley sicced us on the world at large, he had me and my brothers build a good chunk of this here fort. He even had us make this damn prison. And I remember these doors havin’ all these little bolts holdin’ them shut. So while I could cut through all of ‘em, it’d take maybe a month or two… And that’s presumin’ the guards don’t notice nuthin’ funny goin’ on.”

“I see. And I guess cutting through the door is right out  too.”

“Yup.” Fire paused then added softly, “Even if I could pull it off, I’m runnin’ off the last of my reserves as it is. I ain’t got ‘nuff fuel left to even light a cigarette right now…”

 There was a very long pause, then Stern asked, “So what happens when you run out?”

“Of fuel?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re starving, right?”

Fire nodded. “Yeah, I suppose yeh can put it that way.”

“So does that mean you can _die_?” said Stern. “I mean, from being denied fuel.”

“Naw. Once I run out, I’d likely slip offline ‘till I get sum fuel back in me.”

“So, you won’t die, just go into a coma?”

“Eh, not exactly…” Fire squirmed a bit. “It’s more like turnin’ off a computer all of a sudden.”

“Don’t cold reboots screw you up or something?”

Fire blinked at him in shock. “Huh?”

“What?” grumbled Stern. “That’s what those little IT boys keep telling me not to do. Just hitting the off button on a computer can do damage, like making you lose data or some crap like that.”

“That just means I might not recall sum things. It ain’t no big deal or nuthin’.”

“What if one of those things you don’t recall are the Asimov Codes?”

“Naw. That shit’s hard-coded.”

“And that means…”

Pulling out a cigarette, Fire let out a deep sigh. “It means if sumbody wanted to get rid of them, they’d have to go and mess ‘round in my source code. And if they ain’t being very, very careful, whoever’s doin’ the deed might end up changin’ or even erasin’ my personality.”

“You mean like what happened to Lalinde’s girl?” asked Stern as he offered Fire a matchbook.

“No…” The match flared as Fire lit his cigarette and took a deep drag. “Dr. Lalinde knew **_exactly_** what she was doin’. What I’m talkin’ ‘bout is more like that thing where sum fella puts an…an _icepick_ through their victim’s eye socket  and scrambles up their brains.”

“A lobotomy?” rasped Stern, accepting the last cigarette. “You mean if someone gets to that source code thing, they can lobotomize you? **_Accidentally_**?”

“Pretty much.” Fire thought for a minute, then added suddenly, “But to be honest, it ain’t never an accident…”

“But they keep backups, don’t they? I mean, to prevent this kind of thing.”

“That all depends on whether or not yeh’re important enough,” said Fire with a sad smile. “See, AI’s take up a good chunk of hard-drive space even if they’re compressed down in a zip folder. That means it’s pretty damn expensive to store backups ‘cause yeh gotta have at least 3 petabytes per backup stored, ideally several servers worth of ‘em if yeh got the room. And most people just find it’s easier to erase the brain and scrap yer ass for a shiny new robot rather than go through the hassle of storin’ yer mind and givin’ yeh a new body.”

“You’re talking like Dr. Light doesn’t have backups for you. Which isn’t like him, since he’s delusional enough to consider you his kids.”

                 “Funny yeh should say that, Gil… Dad did once have backups for all of us.”

                “So what happened?(And don’t call me Gil.) ”

                Turning a colder smile to him, Fire said softly, “Yeh should know. Y’all were standin’ right there about three years ago when those Turin’ fellas dragged out all the drives out in the yard and destroyed ‘em all.”

                “Hold on!” snapped Stern angrily. Then his expression darkened as he thought back to that day. “They said those where just a bunch of ‘obsolete databanks’ or some crap like that. That little shit Jobsworth told me it was all legal and had been authorized by some big shit or other.  He even fucking stood there in my face and threatened to have my job for daring to ask for the paperwork!  Told me it was over my head and said I’d have to call my superiors if I wanted to see any documents….”

Horror crept into his tone as the full knowledge of what happened dawned on him. “I kept on asking until he gave in and ended up just waving this piece of paper at me… None of us ever got a good look at it but he said it gave him all the authorization he needed. Jobsworth told us that we all had to stand aside, including the sheriff and that kid from the IRS. That dumb kid kicked up a hell of a fuss, but in the end we did what he told us to. We all just to stood there watching while his flunkies were carting off all those papers and computers to analyze them and said they would be given back to Dr. Light when the Turing guys got done with them.”

                “No, they didn’t.” Calmly, Fire said, “Dad spent months askin’ for his research back ‘fore he finally threatened last April to get his lawyers involved...”

                “So what happened?” asked Stern. “Please, tell me he took the bastards to court!”

                “Nope! When he finally got an answer  back, it was a letter sayin’ if he made any attempt to legally get what Turin’ took from him back, they would have Dad jailed, his company seized, and they would destroy all of his robots.  See, after all that Robofluenza shit, they somehow got you guys… Sorry! The _government_ passed some laws that effective let them do whatever the hell they want. Least, that’s what the letter said. Then they turned around and demanded that he pay a yearly fee for ‘maintainin’ unregistered weapons’,  addin’ that we’d be seized if he didn’t comply. Oh, and they made a point of adding that if he complained or spoke to anyone about it, Roll would be seized and put to use as a ‘pleasure service device’ to ‘recoup’ the price of having the rest of us destroyed.”

                “Now wait just one damn minute!” Stern barked. “THERE AREN’T ANY LAWS LIKE THAT! The Robotic Regulatory Act just says you rusty weirdos have to undergo yearly inspection, have your serial numbers documented, and get your paperwork updated.  And Turing has nothing to do with any of that! All the Turing Regulatory Agency is allowed to do is set guidelines on what robots can be programmed to do, administer those stupid tests for research purposes, and making safety recommendations for robot-human interactions. They haven’t got any power to seize property like that! And they sure as hell don’t have the authority to force little girls to prostitute themselves to pay off blackmail!”

                Fire just laughed, then said sleepily, “Well, what hell can we do about it other than pay up and shut up?”

                “You’ve got the letter showing Turing’s extorting money from Dr. Light! Just go to a lawyer and…”

                “And get told to leave on account that I’m a robot. Then watch ‘em drag my baby sister off to be used…” Eyes drooping, Fire finished off his cigarette and snuffed out the butt. “Ain’t nobody gonna give a shit if a robot tries to tell ‘em that Turin’s a bunch of dirty crooks. I won’t forget watching as even the cops stood by and let them rob my dad and threaten my little siblings. Every damn one of yeh humans just look away whenever bad things happen to robots. But if we get angry and try to do sumthin’ ‘bout it, you all just say we’re malfunctionin’ and we’re attackin’ people ‘unprovoked’.  And guess what happens to robots that are ‘violent’ to humans?”

                Staring down at the floor, Stern said quietly, “They’re seized by a SWAT, quickly destroyed and whatever salvageable parts are sent…to…Turing…”

                “And those are the lucky ones,” said Fire. “It’s worse when yeh’re one of these fellas who goes in for their mandatory yearly Turing Test and never comes back out.”

                “I just told you: Turing has no authority to keep robots. That test is complete voluntary and…”

                “No it ain’t!” snapped Fire. “They say yeh don’t have to take it, but ain’t nobody gonna let a robot work no place honest unless they can show the Turin’ Results. And nobody’s gonna let yeh go get any inspections or have  anythin’ else official done ‘cause they have to have that lil’ piece of paper sayin’ yer just a dumb robot!”

“You’re wrong! That stupid test just shows the pencil-pusher  whether or not you rust buckets can pass as human.”

                “And when did yeh take yer test?”

                Stern blinked. “Excuse me?”

                “When did yeh have to take a test to prove if yeh were human, Gil?” slurred Fire, leaning back against the wall. “Well, Gill? Did they require yeh by court order to be tested every year to ‘prove’ yer not a person all cause yeh had got reprogrammed by a lunatic? Did yeh ever wake up  thinkin’ that yeh _deserved_ it?”  He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and continued in an angry voice. “Did yeh have to be warned by yer brothers to lie on it to avoid being labeled ‘Human’? Did yeh have be scared that if the results ever said ‘Yes’, they’d drag yeh into a back room and take the Icepick to yeh?”

                “Icepick? Fire, I don’t think that’s going to do much to a robot…”

                “No. It ain’t that kind of thing… It’s the tool they use when Turing finds out yeh’re human,” sputtered Fire as he curled up and clenched his knees against his chest. “They have yeh taken back to this…this lil’ room with a table. Then they chain yeh down to the table, open yeh up and get out the Icepick…” Fire grinned strangely, eyes going dull unfocused. “It’s not really an icepick, but a kind of soldering iron that’s small enough to get stuck up in yer IC. They rake it back and forth ‘til whatever yeh had that was human ain’t there no more. Then, maybe, if yeh ain’t too damaged, they might let yeh go back home. The fella that took me back was awful proud of how fast he could do the job… I felt a bit bad he couldn’t prove it ‘fore Blues and his lil’ gal showed up.”

                “They. Cannot. Do. That,” snarled Stern, not sure if he was trying to reassure the robot or himself. “They do not have any legal power to do anything outside of regulating robot and human interactions in the workplace. The Turing Tests are only legally allowed to be used to gather information for demographics research. It cannot be used for anything else, especially not barring people from employment! The U.S. government has never and will never give Turing the ability to do anything more than notify the police when their regulations have been violated. Then it’s up to the courts to decide on what happens next. If someone needs to be fined or punished, then it’s the courts place to make that call. Turing cannot lay a hand on you because, as you pointed out, a robot is the private property of either the person who made them, the company they work for…or (under special circumstances) they are owned by themselves. They’d be committing a shit ton of felonies if they did anything to you.”

                “Don’t matter what the law says, Gil. There ain’t nobody gonna listen to a robot’s side of things.”

                “Then why don’t you go to Dr. Light and tell him?”

                Forcing himself to sit upright, Fire sleepily said, “Won’t work. Ain’t nobody gonna listen to a…how’d yeh put it? A _delusional_ old man. See? Ain’t it just so easy for people to stand aside and ignore a crazy fella, Gil? ‘Sides, they’re still holdin’ the threat of killin’ us boys and doin’ worse to Roll. And that’s considerin’ if Dad even believes me…”

                Before Stern could pry further, there was a loud series of thumps as the door was unlocked. A Sniper Joe pushed it opened to allow a few more Sniper Joe’s and a very shapely robot devil in a nice suit to come walking in.

                “Which one of you is…” The devil looked down at her IPad and frowned. “Agent Gilbert Stern, United States  Federal Bureau of Investigation?”

                “And who wants to know?” Stern got to his feet, meeting her gaze defiantly. And then he suddenly found his eyes drawn straight down to the devil’s more… obvious features.

                The devil’s frown only deepened. “I’m Sinistra and my eyes are up here, thank you very much. You are coming with us to see King. He has some documents that are of interest to your government that, Stern.  They include certain papers requested by the Internal Revenue Service of you country and we wish that you personally turn them over to avoid any… incidents. Also, my father wants an explanation as to why you and the pretty boy decided to act as a two man invasion force.”

                “Pretty boy?!” Lurching to his feet, Fire staggered toward the devil. “Excuse me, son, but I ain’t no sissy little pretty boy!”

                Everyone gave him a very long, hard stare.

                “Um, Fire?” Stern coughed and vaguely waved his hand in the devil’s direction. “Sinistra ain’t… I mean, it’s pretty damn obvious… Ah hell, _just look at them!_ ”

                Fire gave her chest a brief glance, then shrugged. “Well, I suppose they’re nice. Ain’t really my thing, though.”

                The collective stare continued.

                “Look, we really don’t have time for this shit,” grumbled Fire as he groggily grabbed Stern’s arm. “Me and Gil have to go find my baby brother ‘fore one of y’all try to defile him or sumthing.”

He started to march out the door only that have his legs lock up midstride. Stern’s arm slipped out of his grasp as Fire found himself falling down. A low-power warning flickered briefly in his vision as the room went sideways in slow motion. He didn’t even feel the impact before his system went into forced shut down and he finally blacked out.

 

_Somewhere deep within the base…_

                Rock followed Copy up through the winding hallways, keeping his blaster at the ready just in case. They hadn’t spoken since he gotten into the sub, which was fine by Rock but he was beginning to feel nervous. He had no reason to trust Copy’s word about getting him out. And, given that the other robot freely admitted he’d happily let the other Robot Masters do whatever they pleased to him, Rock was starting to think Copy might be leading him into a trap.

                “Here we are!” said Copy as they stopped at a bank of teleporters. He pointed to the closest one. “See this? This platform will take you straight to the front gate and right out of my life!”

                Rock stared long and hard at the platform.

                “Well,” rasped Copy. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Leave.”

                Leveling his left arm at Copy, Rock said softly, “You go first.”

                “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

                “You first,” Rock repeated, engaging his blaster.

                A strange expression crossed Copy’s face, a look that mixed anger, confusion, and a childlike pain. With a huff, he stepped onto the platform and teleported out.

                Rock was about to follow when grinning figure stepped out of the shadows and snatched him up in bear hug. Before he could get free, they teleported out and reappeared in what Rock presumed was a room somewhere else in the base. Then he realized that it wasn’t just any kind of room, it was a very luxurious bedroom. Something snapped inside Rock and he bite down as hard as he could on his captor’s arm.

                “Damn it all!” Terra snarled, tossing Rock onto the bed angrily. He inspected the damages with a frown. “You just put dent in my new arm, you little bastard.”

                “Stay away from me!” Leveling his blaster, Rock began charging up a mega-shot.

                This just made the Stardroid roll his eyes. “Will you please put that away? I’m not thrilled about this situation either, but I was ordered to do **_something_** about your problem.”

                “Problem? What problem?”

                Terra frowned down at him, taking on a tone of a frustrated teacher. “I am not going to explain until you put that damn thing away. And take off the armor too.”

                Reluctantly, Rock disengaged his blaster as he shifted to civilian clothes and sat up in the bed. “Okay. Will you _please_ tell me why you’ve locked me up in what looks like a honeymoon suite?”

                “Because to get rid of your problem, it will be easier if we both were in the… the _mood_ , so to speak.”

                “This is about that Virgin Alert thing, isn’t it?” grumbled Rock.

                “Oh good! The lard-ass at least managed to get one thing right,” said Terra as he poured out two stiff drinks. “I ordered Orcus to ensure that he either put a spoofer on you or get the fat idiot to have sex with you. It’s a pity he has failed me yet again.”

                “Wait. **_You_** sent that stuff down?” asked Rock, warily taking the glass Terra offered him. “I thought it was Shadow Man.”

                “Yes, it was.” When he noticed the skeptical look on Rock’s face, Terra sighed and gulped down his drink. “His name is Orcus. His entire clan have been in my service since the Third Battle of Pinn-kolo.”

                “Pink cola?”

                Terra poured himself another drink. “Pinn-kolo. It’s a planet.”

                “Okay… So Shadow Man—uh, Orcus really works for you, not Wiley?”

                “No. He serves us both.” Terra finished off his drink in another gulp, then poured yet another one. “Orcus comes from a branch of his clan that holds oaths as sacrosanct. They even went so far as to program themselves to suicide rather than knowingly break their oaths. This wouldn’t be such a problem except the idiot went and swore loyalty to the human scum.”

                “If it’s that much of a problem, why haven’t you attacked Wiley?” asked Rock, putting aside his untasted drink. “You guys are perfectly willing to kill innocent people. Why not do Earth and the rest of the Universe a favor and kill a bastard who deserves it.”

                Terra cocked his head, idly considering his glass as he gave the young robot a thin smile. “Well! That’s oddly cold for such kindly little fool like you! You’re sounding too much like Big Brother Dear…”

                Returning his smile with a mirthless grin of his own, Rock said, “What’s wrong with that? I’m his **_replacement_** , you know! I’m sure he’d just love to know I’m stupid enough to get raped and broken by group of space monsters. Blues would be so happy to see me suffer…”

                “Actually, no. He would **_not be pleased_**.” Giving up on the glass, Terra took the whole bottle with him as he sat down beside Rocks. “That is a man **_obsessed_** , you stupid boy. He is determined to have you as his and his alone, damn the consequences. Blues has gone beyond reason to make sure that you’re purity remains intact until **_he_** decides to take it. Even a rumor that you might have an interest in another sets him off on a rampage. Just consider what happened to the lard-ass…eh, to Bubble Man.”

                “What happened to Bubble?” asked Rock, guilt and worry clear in his tone.

                “Bubble Man went missing on the 18th, and Wave Man couldn’t locate him or get him on the radio. Roughly three days ago, the searchers finally found the lard-ass in one of the desalination pipes. It seemed that he  got mangled by what we thought was a malfunctioning gate. We initially thought he’d somehow gotten sucked up into the pipe given how severely damaged he was.”

Terra took a deep drink then offered the bottle to Rock. When he politely refused, Terra shrugged and took another drink before he continued.

 “Well, to make a very long story short, once we reattached his tongue and lower jaw, Bubble kindly notified us that he’d had a little…encounter with your brother. Blues was a little…upset when he learned you were Bubble’s guest for an extended period of time. He was also not pleased to learn that Bubble had orders to…*ahem!* **_help_** you out  with your problem.”

                “That’s why he never came back?” said Rock as he started to choke up. “Blues almost murdered him over **_me_**?”

                “Yes, little pet.” Gently, Terra reached out and stroked Rock’s hair. “Yes it’s all your fault that your brother came and mauled not only Bubble Man but has also been merrily picking off the others as well. Like poor little Spring Man and Stone Man… both innocent bystanders who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But then again, I guess they don’t really count for you since they’re just more bad guys. I normally wouldn’t give a damn about the follies of you sad little fools but I now have eleven reasons to be very upset about this. And let me repeat that this whole situation is entirely your fault.”

                Rock squirmed as he hugged himself tightly. “But I… I don’t know what to do! I have no control over Blues.”

                “Actually, you do.” Terra slowly wrapped an arm around the young robot and pulled him close. “He’s completely fixated on having you, in every sense of the term. And he also wants to be the first… Well, let me say this gives you a lot of leverage over him if you can keep him guessing whether or not you saved yourself for him.”

                “But you just said I had to lose my virginity to stop the signal…” Rock’s eyes widened. “Which Blues is tracking, isn’t he?”

                “What a good little child you are!” Terra sat the empty bottle down and pinched Rock’s cheek. “Yes, he is following that signal. Which brings us to the discussion of your options in how you can fix this problem.”

                “And those are?”

                Pulling Rock onto his lap, Terra smiled broadly. “First: I deflower you right now. Now, this is certainly to quickest, easiest, and surest way to cut off that silly alarm you have. But this also leads to even bigger problems, the biggest being Big Bad Brother Blues coming after me for daring to defile **_his_** lil’ bro.”

                “That’s a good point,” muttered Rock as he did his best to squirm out of Terra’s grasp. “But you forgot that I might not want to sleep with you under any circumstances.”

                “Your consent is not required, child,” came the hiss as Terra’s fingers dug painfully into Rock’s shoulder. Then his grip loosened as he purred, “Though you do bring up a good point. I’m not exactly keen on the idea of having sex with you either, so that could cause some…performance difficulties. So let us consider your second option: Installing a spoofer and pretending that I had my wicked way with you. You do still have the one I sent you, don’t you?”

                Drawing the little box out of his shunt-space, Rock showed it to him. “I… I thought about that, but Bubble said they only last a few weeks.”

                “Plenty of time to get you the hell out of my hair!” chirped Terra as he nuzzled the younger robot’s neck.

                “But what if… What if Blues thinks I’ve been with somebody else?”

                Lightly nipping his ear, Terra said in a pleasant tone, “Why should you care? Don’t Wiley and his minions deserve punishment?”

                “No! Nobody deserves to be punished for something that didn’t do! Not even Wiley!” Rock snapped back, wiggling out of Terra clutches only to fall backwards onto the bed. He tried to sit up but Terra climbed on top and pinned him down.

                “Silly, silly boy!” said Terra with sigh. “You have a golden opportunity to gain vengeance against any who’ve wrong you in the past. I sure there are plenty of people that you’ve wanted to hurt. And all you need do is say a name! You can even take this chance to sic Blues on me.” A nasty smile twisted his face as he leaned in closer to Rock. “Or why not get back at Bass and say he raped you?”

                “No! No-no-no!” Angrily, Rock shook his head and tried to push Terra away. “That’s not right!”

                Rolling his eyes, Terra tightened his grip on the young robot. “Oh, don’t lie there and say you don’t want to hurt Bass like he hurt you.”

                “I don’t!” snarled Rock, but he couldn’t hide the guilt on his face.

                “Well, little pet, if you wish to make denials then so be it.” Terra gently kissed Rock’s forehead and said, “But we have to get rid of your little problem as soon as possible. So what’s it going to be? Am I installing the spoofer on you? Or are we going to—”

                A sudden, very insistent banging on the door interrupted them.

                “I told them I wasn’t to be disturbed tonight.” Terra sat up, growling as he went to answer it. He’d barely opened the door before he went reeling backwards, clutching his bleeding eye.

                “Rock!” Dashing over and scooping him up in a bear-hug, Zero nuzzled the smaller robot’s hair. “Are you all right?”

                “I’m fine,” came the muffled reply as Rock debated on enjoying being cuddled or letting Zero know his torso was starting to cave in from the pressure. “And I’m really happy to see you, but I’ve got one question: How did you find me?”

                “I tracked you up here.”

                Rock frowned up at him. “Let me guess, you used that stupid virgin alarm didn’t you?”

                “What alarm?” asked Zero, looking confused. “I followed your scent from the fat bastard’s quarters to here.”

                “Well, isn’t that just…cute,” rasped Terra, holding a hand over his oozing eye socket as he moved towards them. “But I believe it’s time for to put the dog out for the night...You and I have things to discuss.”

                When Zero let him go and started towards Terra, Rock stepped in between them with a little grin. “Yeah, about that…  While I agree that something needs to be done about my…*ahem!* **_condition_** , I’m afraid the solutions you’ve offered just won’t cut it, Terra.” His grin broadened as he gently took the eye from Zero and gave it back to the Stardroid. “But I think I’ve found an answer that is fits my **_needs_** much, much better. Now why don’t you go put your eyeball back in so Zero and I can have a long talk about some things. Alone. Without any interruptions. ”

                Terra started to argue, then looked at Zero and back to Rock. Frowning in defeated disgust, he said, “The bar’s fully stocked, there’s a rest room behind the panel on the right and for the love of all things holy, please don’t fuck on my desk. There are papers there that I would prefer not to have soiled.”

                Rock’s face flashed bright red as Terra left them to their devices with a pointed click of the lock.

                “Why would we fuck?” asked Zero, draping an arm over Rock’s shoulders.

                “I…It…Eh, it’s something we really need to talk about, Zero. You know…” Rock lightly elbowed his side, causing the blond to hiss in pain. He turned and glanced at the spot in concern. “Are you alright?”

                “It’s fine,” muttered Zero. “Just a little scratch…”

                Rock reached out and carefully pressed his fingers against the spot, drawing out another hiss from Zero. “That doesn’t feel like a scratch. I think I should take a look at it.”

                “But it’s nothing!” whimpered Zero, trying to pull off puppy eyes but only giving Rock a lifeless stare.

                “Don’t argue. Now, take off your armor while I go see if there’s a tool kit in here,” Rock grumbled as he went over to the panel for the rest room. After a few minutes, he managed to find a very well provisioned emergency repair kit. He took it and a towel back with him as he came out of the rest room. “Okay! Looks like we don’t have to worry about… Whoa!”

                Standing by the bed, Zero just shrugged at him. “What? You told me to take off my armor.”

                “…and you are nude. You are very, very nude,” said Rock as he openly stared right at Zero’s groin. He couldn’t help looking him up and down and even further down. It was only on the sixth pass that he noticed the badly applied patch on Zero’s side, and then the other patches in various colors. “Oh my god… What happened to you?”

                Zero stretched with a casual yawn. “Listen, it’s really nothing you should worry about. I’m fine, okay?”

                Rock only glared at him, ignoring the oddly familiar way he posed and grinned. “Lie down on the bed so I can take a look…and don’t argue with me.”

                He waited till Zero, with a huff and a roll of his eyes, had stretched out before going over to examine him. Rock started by pulling off the patch on Zero’s side, frowning when he saw just how nasty the wound was. There was even what looked like a piece of dark metal wedged in it. It took a few minutes of careful probing with a pair of needle-nose pliers before Rock managed to extract the shrapnel, only to realize it was a broken blade with a serrated back. Rock stared at it for a moment, then sit the blade aside to start cleaning out the damaged wires and other debris. He only stopped when he noticed Zero was playing with his hair.

                “Will you quit that?” chided Rock as he brushed his hand away.

                “Why?” he asked, lightly flicking Rock’s earlobe. “You’re very petable.”

                Rock pinned his hand down with a huff. “I’m being serious! I need to finish repairing you before we can start fooling around.”

                “Fooling around?” Zero repeated with a grin and a strange red gleam in his eyes that Rock had never seen before.

                Blushing brightly, Rock wordlessly went back to the task at hand. He’d barely finished smoothing out the polymer patch when he felt Zero’s fingers sliding through his hair. “Zero…”

                “You are finished, right?” His eyes shone even brighter as he stroked Rock’s cheek. “ Now, what was this about fooling around?”

                Rock pulled away and started cleaning up. “Actually, I need to put these tools away and we need to have a little talk.”

                “And then there’ll be fooling around, yes?” panted Zero, eyes shifting to blue but still hungry and eager.

                “That all depends on how well you behave,” Rock said, closing up the toolkit and tried to ignore the large, very obvious display of the blonde’s excitement. “You will behave, won’t you Zero?”

                “Yes sir,” came the happy little purr. “I’ll be very good for you, Rock.”

                Grinning, Rock went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him as he planned his next move.

 


	2. The Lying Lies of Mister Rock Light

_Samdei 15  mars 2014, 11:43 AM PST  
Whale Gulch, California_

                Star watched the Sniper Joes carried in a cover stretcher then turned to the very well-endowed gothy girl that followed them. “Volante, mon cher! It’s very nice to see you but what is going on? And what is dzat?”

                “Oh, this guy here like passed out from lack of fuel and stuff on Sinistra and they like had to do a force refuel on him and it was like totally gross! Like, they crammed the poor dude full of tubes and gauges and…”

                “So why is ‘e ‘ere? Shouldn’t you ‘ave left ‘im in dze repair bay.”

                “That’s like totally what I told sis!” squawked Volante, noisily snapping her gum. “But Sinistra must’ve like ate a major bowlful of bitch-flakes today, cause she went absolutely apeshit and said the other Robot Masters would kill ‘em if they found the guy in there helpless and stuff. Which would be like a totally tragedy cause he is such a massive hottie! Like, oh my god, I took like one look and fell in love! I am so outrageously hot for this man that like I swear to god I am just gonna die! ”

                “Oh, don’t be silly, ma fille. Dzere isn’t a man alive worth dying for…” He sighed bitterly as he pulled out the pretty cigarette case **_that_** boy had given him years ago. Star stared at it for a moment, smiling as he remembered how the big bumbling hick had nearly gotten himself run over just to give it to him… and how he’d just brushed the poor boy off yet again. Wincing, Star put a cigarette in his mouth and quickly put the wretched case away. “Just take my word for it.”

                “But look at him!” Volante quickly wiped back the cover to reveal the unconscious robot. “Like, just look at that bod! He’s got abs that like you could totally grate cheese on… I mean, he’s a real stud!”

                Star stared down at the figure on the stretcher for a long time, the cigarette falling from his lips to burn a small hole in the rug. Cheeks glowing brightly, he looked away quickly and said, “Take ‘im upstairs to dze bed. It…It’ll be more comfortable for ‘im dzere.”

                “You know, Star,” began Volante with a grin as the Sniper Joes’ marched upstairs. “I could totally ditch patrol duty and like hang out here…”

                “Non!” snapped Star, then in a calmer tone, “Non, mon cherie. Dzere’s no need for you to stay ‘ere. I….I dzink I can ‘andle dzis myself.”

                Volante frowned, giving him her best puppy-eyes as she said, “Like for sure, Star? ‘Cause I am absolutely willing to say and like help and stuff.”

                After a moment of nervous fiddling, Star managed to get another cigarette out of the case and lit it. He tried to hide behind a mild smile as he said, “Non, ma fille. Now, run along and do your patrolling.”

                “Okay…” sighed Volante as she shifted into armor that was even more revealing than her civies. Adjusting her hat and pulling a broom from nowhere, she went to the balcony door then turned. “But, like, if you need me and stuff, you can totally call me to come back and help like… _handle_ the hottie.”

                 “I can ‘andle this just fine. Adieu, ma fille.”

                “Bye, Star.” Pouting, she went out and rode her broom over to a small group of Witch Janes.

                Star waited till they left and the Sniper Joes finally went out the door, then he went over to the stairs. He stood there awhile, torn between going up or keeping his distance. Star wondered if he’d been mistaken, that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. But maybe… just maybe…. Angrily, Star shook off the thought as he  went to the kitchen for a glass of wine or maybe three in the hopes that would keep the memories of what may have been at bay.  


 

* * *

 

_March 15, 2014, Saturday, 12:19 PM PST  
Somewhere in Wiley’s base…_

  
                Checking his breath again, Rock fumbled through the medicine cabinet till he found some mouthwash. He hesitated a moment, unsure about using Terra’s things but then quickly took a mouthful. Despite the insanely intense burning mint, he forced himself to swish it around for a minute before spiting it out. Taking the case Fire gave him out of shunt space, Rock dug out a condom and examined it. Then he put that one back and pulled out a larger size, smiling as he put the case back. He also took a bottle of lube from the cabinet, trying not to think too hard about why Terra would even have any or why he needed such a large bottle. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Rock opened the bathroom door.

                “All right, Zero, I—” Rock froze mid-stride and stared at the blond standing up in the desk chair, sniffing the ceiling. “Um…what are you doing?”

                “I smell _him_ ,” hissed Zero, glaring redly at the vent.

                “Smell who?”

                “The Prototype. He is here… _somewhere_ …”

                Rock sighed and rolled his eyes. “Uh, maybe it’s me? I mean, Blues is my jerk of an older brother. So maybe we smell the same.”

                “No, you do not.” Hopping off the chair, Zero went over and scooped Rock up into a tight hug as he buried his face into his hair. “The Prototype is a foul smelling bastard while you…” He snuffed deeply, grinning shyly. “You smell very...er, _tasty_. And minty. You are very minty right now.”

                “Uh…thanks?” Rock tried to ignore the bump grinding against his hip as he wrapped his arms around Zero’s neck. “Now, how about we get comfy and have that little talk?”

                “Yeah, about that…” Frowning sadly, Zero carried him over to bed and sat Rock down. “See, I... I have been thinking and I… I really cannot do this.”

                Rock looked up at him, eyes wide and hurt. “Why?”

                “Because…” Zero took a deep breath and tried to shift so his interest wasn’t so obvious. “Because it would be _wrong_. Rock, please understand that I really want to… ** _badly_**. But I cannot take advantage of you.”

                “Take advantage of **_me_**?” grumbled Rock as he glared at the blond. “Seriously?! Right now, if I were you, I’d be more worried about me taking advantage of **_you_**! I am literally this close to pushing you down and riding you till your hips shatter!”

                Zero groaned, trying hard not be…hard. “We cannot do this. I do not love you and you do not love me, right?”

                “Right now, love doesn’t really matter.” Rock smiled up at him. “But I do trust you, Zero.”

                “But we can’t do it like this! You…you’re only supposed to do this when you’re in love. And…and I don’t want to hurt you.”

                “So that’s it? You’re scared you’re going to hurt me?” snarled Rock, then he started laughing. “Really?! Zero, I’m so…I am so **_fucking_** sick and tired of everyone acting like I’m some cute, innocent little geek who needs to be protected! Y’all treat me like I’ll die just from getting my feelings hurt. Well, I won’t! And I AM DONE! Today is the day I **_finally_** get laid! Now, are we doing this or do I have to go see if Bubble’s well enough to handle me?”

                “Him?” asked Zero in cold rage. He stared blankly at Rock for a moment, then that strange fire blazed back in his eyes. “ ** _Him?_** ”

                “Well, you just said you didn’t want to. And I’m not going to force you to. You and Bubble are currently the only two people that I know I can trust. And I have to lose my virginity right now, so I am really running out of options…”

                “Mine.”

                Rock raised an eyebrow at him. “Excuse me?”

                Growling quietly, Zero shoved Rock back onto the bed and straddled him. “You’re **_mine_**.”

                “Yours? Oh no…” Realizing Zero had changed his mind, Rock broke into an evil smile and effortlessly flipped the blond over so that he was now straddling his hips. He leaned down till their lips were barely touching. “No see, you have it backwards, Zero. I am not _yours_. You’re **_mine_**.” 'Even if it is only for now...' thought Rock sadly.

                Zero’s eyes brightened to an atomic blue as he hungrily whispered, “Yours?”

                “Mine.” Gently, Rock pressed his lips against Zero’s and lightly traced their shape with the tip of his tongue. When the blond opened his mouth, Rock eased his tongue inside to explore the sharp fangs and slowly accept the eager strokes in return. He only broke away long enough to strip off the clothes he’d borrowed from Bubble before returning to reclaim Zero’s mouth as his own.

 

* * *

 

  _15 March 2014 13:18:49 Uniform_

_Orbital Station: Wily Star, L2-Delta Position_

 

                The big guy slammed Blues down onto the floor so hard that he was amazed that it didn’t dislocate his teeth. As he felt a heel grind down between his shoulders, Blues’ took some small solace in seeing the bitch had lost the use of her arm. Unfortunately, that hadn’t stopped her from hitting him with a whole pincushion’s worth of needles which stung and burned every time he moved.

                “Ponos! Algos!” barked an angry and, even worse, very familiar voice from overhead.

                Blues twisted his head slightly to see Shadow striding across the ceiling as casual as ever, his scarf doing that very infuriating trick of defying all known laws of physics to drag along behind him. He heard Shadow say something in a lyrical dialect that matched nothing on Blues’ database, causing the big guy to remove his foot. Blues immediately sprang to his feet and made a break only to be laid out by yet another salvo from the smirking bitch. The pain had been just a welcome distraction before but now it was so overwhelming that Blues found himself collapsing to the floor again.

                “ALGOS!” snapped Shadow, jumping down and helping Blues back to his feet.

                “What? The bastard attacked us first,” hissed the bitch in a sharp, sexless voice. “It’s not my fault his little catamite ran off.”

                “What did you just say?” Blues whispered, the pain forgotten in a red haze of rage.

                Holding Blues back, Shadow said coldly, “Algos, I told you I would handle this. Go with Ponos and get repaired.”

                “But the master’s orders were…”

                “I said to leave this to me, Algos. Now go!”

                The bitch glared then turned and marched angrily after the big guy. Once they were out of sight, Blues turned on Shadow.

                “I don’t care what you have to say,” he snapped, yanking out the needles and inspecting the insidiously tiny barbs down the narrow shafts. “Right now, I have get into that room and rescue him!”

                “Who? Zero?” asked Shadow as he tried to get Blues to sit down against the wall.

                “NO! I have to get Rock…” Systems jamming from multiple pain signals, Blues felt his leg give out and he slumped to the ground. Futilely, he waved his hands as the scene replayed in his mind’s eye. “That monster was… They… He put his filthy hands on… If you only saw what  that monster did… And Rock… Rock was…”

                “The one who very obviously in control.” Sighing, he reached down and gently brushed the hair out of Blues’ face. He opened his right eye, letting Blues see that the socket was empty. “Yes, I saw what happened. Though from what I observed, I’m surprised you still assume Rock was an unwilling party. In fact, the boy was being much more assertive than **_you_** were the first time.”

                “Where the fuck did he learn **_that_**?!” snapped Blues as he tried to get back up and ignoring the jab. “Rock’s a good boy! A sweet, pa-pass-passive b-b-b-boy. He was **_innocent_** …” His voice began cracking with static and sobs. “ My Rock would…w-w-would not do such th-th-things. He…He should not know about th-th-those kinds of things.”

                Shadow only shrugged as he stepped aside to let a hovering platform pull closer. “One never knows with the young ones these days. But take heart in the knowledge that at least you and Rock have many…uh, _attributes_ in common.”

                Glaring coldly, Blues forced himself to stand. “I… I do not care f-f-f-for your shit, old man. J-j-j-just tell the truth for once: D-d-d-did your master order the…the…the monster to do what it did?”

                “Terra only ordered us to stop **_Protoman’s_** rampage. He believed this was due to him discovering that Rock was here and that **_Protoman_** was tracking him via his Virginity Alert. Terra requested that I personally take care of this…problem.” Shadow frowned when he saw Blues wince behind his anger. “I declined to do so, given that I promised you to never court your siblings. But I must obey my master, so I sought an alternative. I originally sent Bubble a spoofer and an ultimatum: either install the spoofer on Rock or deflower the boy. He…declined both options. Empathically.”

                He paused, watching Blues closely to see if his words had made any impression. Blues only meet his searching look with a frigid rage.

                 “I had hoped Bubble would reconsider,” continued Shadow, still watching Blues. “Unfortunately, **_Protoman_** appears to have reached him first and—”

                “I didn’t d-d-do that to the f-f-f-f-fat bastard!” Blues snarled the words through the static. “I-I-I f-f-found him that way. Th-th-thought he was…was dead.”

                “I said **_Protoman_** attacked him…and the others. But **_Blues_** …” With a light touch, Shadow easily steered Blues over to the platform and forced him to lie down on it. “ ** _Blues_** came afterwards, finding and abandoning a gravely wound Bubble. Because **_Blues_** was here on **_his master’s_** orders. He did his duty to her first, then turned his attentions to finding Rock. **_Blues_** spoke with Copy, who told him that his brother had been taken by Terra. Then **_Blues_** teleported in and slipped into the vents, still tracking the signal. He found Rock in the company of the plague hound. Then the signal ceased and they now sleep.”

                Moaning in despair, Blues shook his head in a vain attempt to unsee his brother curled up- sticky and deeply satisfied- in the arms of the monster.

                “ ** _Blues_** was discovered trying to break into the room by my brothers. And it is **_Blues_** who I am taking to the repair bay to undo the damage they wrought. And to purge out the poison from Algos’ needles.”

                For a few moments, Blues struggled to force his slow constricting throat to function. Finally, he managed to rasp, “P-p-p-protoman?”

                Shadow nodded. “Yes. **_Protoman_** is still in the Whale Gulch base. A full lockdown went into effect over an hour ago, but they are having difficulties capturing him. Once I am finished up here, I will go and deal with him. But right now, **_Blues_** needs to go ahead and shut down before he suffers worse damages.” He gently took off Blues’ glasses and kissed his forehead. “Please, little one? I promise things will be okay.”

                Blues made his lips curl into a bitter smile. “Liar.”

                Then his systems finally succumbed to a full crash, sending Blues into a cold unconsciousness.


	3. Out of the Frying Pan…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! Porn. 8D

_March 15, 2014, Saturday, 12:38 PM PST_

_Somewhere in Wiley’s base…_

            “So how do you want to do this?” asked Rock, leaning back to sit astride Zero’s stomach as a sudden thought struck him.

            Zero looked up at him, breathless and eager. “Do what?”

            “How do we…uh, I mean… who’s going to be the guy and who’s the girl?”

            “I’m yours…” came the whimper before his eyes flashed back to blue. “But I am **_not_** a woman.”

            “And that’s a problem because I’m not either… So how are we going to do this?” Rock sighed and shifted, noticing the very obvious proof Zero’s manhood rubbing his backside. He idly wiggled his hips as he tried to think. “Maybe we flip for it? Or take turns? But who’d get to go first? I mean, it’s kind of weird to decide who’s fucking who by a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors…”

            Suddenly, Zero grabbed Rock’s hips and growled miserably, “I will do **_anything_**! Just please…”

            “Please?” Rock gave him a funny look, then looked over his shoulder. “Oh. **_Oh_** …”

            “Please? It hurts.”

            Scooting around so he could take a better look, Rock inspected the blond’s now twitching erection. “Well, it does look really swollen. Maybe I should let you go first, but…”

            “But?”

            “It’s just really **_big_**. I mean, I can hardly put my hand around it.” Rock demonstrated by wrapping his fingers around it and squeezing slightly. He was rewarded with a low whine from Zero. Stroking it slowly, Rock said, “I’m really not sure you’d fit inside me, so I can’t be the girl. But you don’t want to be the girl, so…”

            “I’ll be the girl! I’ll be **_anything_** for you!” gasped Zero, hips bucking up in time with Rock’s strokes. His expression softened to a faintly stoned grin, red eyes going misty. “I am **_yours_** now. Do what you will.”

            “Okay, I’ll be the guy then. But I can’t just leave you like this, so let me take care of you first…” Leaning in closer, Rock flicked his tongue against the very tip of the blond’s cock and getting a very pleased growl in response. Rock smiled as he started lazily licking and sucking along its length as if he was enjoying a hot, pulsing popsicle. Encouraged by the delighted noises Zero was making, Rock carefully took the head of the blond’s cock into his mouth. He slowly worked more in until he could feel the tip brushing the back of his throat, then pulled back before bobbing back down again.

Soon he grasped Zero’s cock again and started stroking in rhythm with his sucking, causing the blond to buck and moan loudly. Rock was a bit surprised not only by Zero’s reaction but also by how much he was enjoying having something that big in his mouth, despite the fact that he was slobbering everywhere. It was like he was eating a spongy, sour jawbreaker. He only stopping when he felt Zero’s hand on his head.

            “Is something wrong?” he asked in a breathless voice.

            “No,” came the reply. “I…I just want to touch you.”

            “Okay. Just don’t push or I might bite…”

            “I might not mind biting…”whispered Zero as propped himself up on one elbow and ran his fingers through Rock’s hair.

            Rock squeezed the blond’s cock slightly, making him whimper. “Do you want to me to stop?”

            “No…please, do not stop!”

            “Good boy…” Grinning, Rock leaned back down and started sucking on him again. He was just getting back in the rhythm when there was a metallic thump from somewhere in the ceiling and muffled sound, like something struggling in a confined space. Rock paused, trying to pinpoint where the noise came from. “What is that?”

            Zero smiled, blue eyes glowing with evil glee. “Oh, it is only **_vermin_** , Rock.”

            He rolled his eyes at the blond with a sigh then went back still throbbing cock, eagerly engulfing it in his mouth and hands. Rock picked up the pace, smiling as his efforts had Zero mewling and shuddering. When he felt Zero’s hand on his head, he started going even harder and when the blond lightly pulled on his hair, Rock couldn’t help moaning. 

            “R-r-rock?” Zero asked, his voice shaking. “Rock, I…I’m c-c-cu… _oh fuck!_ ”

            Rock choked as his mouth was suddenly flooded by a thick, oddly salty fluid. He jerked back, closing his eyes as another jet of cum splattered on his face and chest. After swallowing most of the stuff, Rock quickly took Zero’s cock back in his mouth and tried to gulp the rest down  as the blond looked down at him. Rock only stopped licking and sucking when Zero’s cock finally went soft in his hands.

            “You okay?” asked Rock as he shifted to lay across the panting blond. “I…I didn’t mess up, did I?”

            “…that felt **_good_** ,” purred Zero, his eyes red and sleepy.

            Smiling, Rock gently kissed Zero. “Good to hear. You want to rest a bit before—”

            “More! Now, please?” gasped Zero, cupping Rock’s face in his hands as he hungrily licking and kissing it clean.

            “Easy! Down boy!” Laughing, Rock pushed him back down on bed. “All right, we’ll keep going.”

            Rock got up to retrieve the bottle of lube, then turned to see Zero had positioned himself so lying flat his stomach with his rear sticking up slightly. Grinning, he asked, “What are you doing?”

            “I have heard this is the…easier way of doing things,” Zero answered, pointedly looking at Rock’s groin. “And I hope that will be enough because you…you are not that small…”

            Rock glanced down at his own growing erection with a blush. “Oh, come on. It’s not that big. I mean, compared to yours, I’m really, really small.”

            Zero stared him with a slight smirk. “I must protest as you are viewing it from a rather bad perspective.”

            “Haha.” Climbing back into bed, Rock positioned himself behind the blond and poured some lube on his fingers. “Well, you better hope it’s small, because I’m putting it in you. Now, are you ready”

            Zero’s only reply was to impatiently wiggle his ass.

            Shrugging, Rock carefully poked one lubed finger into him causing Zero to yelp and jerk forward. “Are you okay?!”

            “Yes! It’s just…” Zero’s face glowed in embarrassment. “It was just very cold. That’s all.”

            “Okay, but if this hurts at all, please tell me and I’ll stop?”

            Zero nodded and repositioned himself.

            Pouring out more lube, Rock rubbed it between his hands to warm it before slicking up his fingers. He slowly pushed a finger into Zero, getting a faint growl. After a little exploring, Rock eased in a another finger and started moving them around to get Zero loosened up. When he had the blond relaxed and purring, Rock withdrew his fingers and poured even more lube down on his cock.

            “Are you ready for me to put it in?” he asked, moving in between Zero’s legs.

            Zero only nodded, biting down on the pillow and looking over it with a strange glimmer in those wide  blue eyes.

             Hesitating, Rock shifted till he was in what he hoped was a good angle and nudged the head of his cock against the blond’s entrance. He pulled back and, lubing up his fingers again, worked at getting Zero relaxed again. Taking a deep breath, Rock thrust forward to bury himself as deep as he could into Zero. He waited until Zero gave him a smile and, pulling back, Rock poured yet more lube on his cock before he started pounding into him.

            “Does it feel good now?” Rock asked as he got into a steady, pleasant pace.

            “Yes…” sighed Zero, rocking back into Rock’s thrusts.

            With a smile, Rock leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Zero. He buried his face in the blond’s hair, kissing and nibbling at his shoulders as they continued bucking into each other. Groaning in pleasure, Rock forced himself to keep going at a slow, easy pace as he pounded Zero hard and deep. He wasn’t sure how long they continued at that wonderful tempo, but Rock eventually felt a fierce delight building inside. Soon it was impossible for him to keep from going faster, murmuring soft words into Zero’s ear as he fucked him even harder.

            “Zero?” he asked, static filling his voice as he felt something swelling inside. “Can…can I come in you?”

            “Yes. Yours…” was all Zero purred, happily rocking into him.

            Sighing, Rock thrusted into Zero at an even more rapid pace until finally he reached a peak. Rock gasped and clung tightly to the blond as he rode out the waves of overwhelming pleasure. He finally pulled out and rolled over onto his back, panting but satisfied.

            “You okay?” asked Zero, rolling over and grinning at Rock.

            “Yeah. You?”

            “Great!” Zero took a pack of cigarettes out of his shunt space and put one in his mouth before he offered the pack to Rock.

            “No, thank you. I don’t smoke.” Lazily, Rock stretched then said, “But you know what I’d really like right now? A pizza.”

            “Pizza?” Zero thought a moment, then his grin widened. “Yeah… Pizza sounds really good.”

            Rock crawled over and cuddled up against the blond. “All right, it’s settled! When we’re finished, you and I are going out for pizza.”

            “Finished?  There’s going to be _more_?”

            Grinning, Rock laid his head on Zero’s chest. “Well, of course! I went first as the guy, so it’s only fair you get to have your turn.”

            “Okay…” Yawning, Zero ruffled Rock’s hair. “But let’s take a break first. I think I need a rest before we try this all again.”

            “Right… A nap sounds good,” murmured Rock. He buried his face into Zero’s hair and soon Rock slipped off into a very happy sleep.

 

_March 15, 2014, Saturday, 01:19 PM PST  
Whale Gulch, California_

            The gray and red armored robot came charging in, sliding underneath the gate just as the blast shields came crashing down. There was a brief wail of klaxons, then suddenly the alarms went silent. The robot stopped just shy of the middle of the room, staring up a catwalk overhead.

            “You’re late,” said Elec in a casual tone as he leaned on railing. “I expected much better of you, Blues.”

            “I thought I told you idiots to **_never_** call me that name! It’s Protoman.”

            Elec cocked his head, smiling. “Really? I seem to recall you demanding that we use only your **_real_** name, Blues.”

            “What the hell are you doing here, anyway?” asked Protoman, changing the subject quickly.

            “That depends. What are **_you_** doing here?”

            Growling, Protoman took off his helmet and glared a mutilated red eye at Elec. “Go fuck yourself.”

            “What a foul little mouth you have!” gasped Elec, looking mildly offended. “And such a funny accent. Why, you sound just like one those city slicker Northerners! Not at all like the boy who’s speech patterns were based on a man born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee.”

            “So I don’t talk a hick. Sue me,” hissed Protoman.

            “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing, Blues.”

            Protoman’s lip curled in a snarl as he turned away. “I don’t have time for this shit.”

            “What? You seem to have plenty of time for one little brother!” snapped Elec. “Don’t you have time for any others?”

            “Don’t you fucking **_dare_** bring Mega into this.”

            “Mega? That’s odd…” Elec purred, grinning viciously. “Rock absolutely **_hates_** being called Mega. He doesn’t like being remind of the fact he has basically volunteered to be a child soldier. And you **_know_** this, Blues. You’ve only called him Mega once before but never again because it hurt him so badly.”

            Not turning around, Protoman coldly said, “I’ve warned you about messing with my lil’ bro, Elec.”

            “Really? And just when was that? Because all I can remember is that you’ve never really been part of Rock’s life up until a few years ago. And you never even tried to stick around and be there for him like I was.” Elec paused and said with a cruel laugh, “In fact, you and Rock never had a real brother relationship at all.”

            Roaring in rage, Protoman whirled around and fired off a charged shot. The catwalk split in half and Elec’s smoking body fell to the floor behind some crates. Protoman quickly covered the distance and peered down from a crate. To his shock, there was nothing there but a few smoldering pieces of metal grating.

            “THUNDER BEAM!”

            Protoman’s whole body went rigid as Elec stabbed a hand hard against his spine, the powerful bolt of electricity greatly amplified by the galvanic glove. He waited till Protoman had gone completely out before dropping him to the ground and going back over to the holographic generator. Quickly shutting it off and sealing the crate shut, Elec paused a moment make sure the alarms had begun again before slipping back into the secret passage.

            “Hey, Axle?” he asked, opening up a radio line as he darted down the passages. “Status report?”

            “Things are going okay,” came the static-filled reply. “But I think your ex-wife’s starting to suspecting something up. She asked me why I’m being nice to that Stern human.”

            “Just tell her it’s the pain cut-outs. Oh, and just an FYI: we were only married for about 20 minutes before Turing got the state to grant them an annulment, impounded me and arrested Rosie for ‘criminal abuse of a corpse’.”

            “Huh… I thought they used to arrest robo-philes for bestiality, not necrophilia.”

            Elec let out a nasty hiss. “Well, it doesn’t matter! We lucked out and there was a fucking riot right outside the courthouse that very day! So Rosie didn’t have to worry about the press hounding her or having her entire career ruined for making the mistake of loving a loser like me! All it cost her was just an arm and both legs…”

            There was pause, the Axle said in an oddly quiet tone, “I take it you still have feelings for her?”

            “As far as the future Mrs. Samuel M. Hale is concerned, I am only a good friend,” replied Elec, forcing himself to keep calm as he picked up the pace. “Now, since Gil and Fire are back, I need you to—”

            “Fire’s not here.”

            Elec froze mid-stride. “What?”

            “Fire didn’t come back with Stern and Vance. They said he collapsed and Sinistra ordered him taken to the repair bay. I think you should just…” Suddenly, Axle went silent. There was a longer pause, then Axle added hesitantly but in a more normal voice, “Stern also said they were going to move him to one of the other robot’s room to prevent Fire from getting burked. I…I think he said it was somebody name Celeste or Stella…”

            “Star?” asked Elec, his fuel pump dropping as he turned to run the other way.

            “Yeah! That’s the name!”

            Suddenly, Elec was glad the kid couldn’t see him cringe. “Dammit! Okay, here’s the new plan: You need to slip away and get back to my place at Fort Bragg. But first, I want you to pack some of Rock’s clothes—say about two, three days’ worth.”

            “And why do I need to do that?”

            “Because there are going some… _problems_ in the very near future and I want to be ready to get Rock somewhere safe in a hurry.”

            Over the radio, he heard Axle growl. “Listen, I told you all the stuff Quint said doesn’t matter! This timeline is completely different from his!”

            “Right, but that doesn’t explain certain coincidences that match up. Like Mega and Brain.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about…” said Axle, his voice strange and cold. “But if I did, I’d like to point out that **_you_** set that up to happen. And they didn’t do much, so your meddling has done nothing. Over.”

            “There’s still time,” Elec said mildly, turning down a familiar tunnel. “Anyway, the thing with Megaman and Brain Bot technically hasn’t happened yet. Gives me some time to take care of a few things. So go do what I told you to do, Axle, and let me go stop the thermonuclear disaster that is about to happen.”

            Even through the static, Elec notice Axle sighing in annoyance. “Very well. But I don’t think a simple forced refuel is likely to cause Fire’s power core to explode. Over.”

            “No, but you’ve never seen my darling twin brother lose his temper… I mean really **_lose his temper_**.” Elec laughed coldly. “The results…ain’t pretty.”

            “And what could possibly anger him so? Over.”

            “Kid, let’s just say Fire and Star have a… history, and leave it at that.”

            “Roger. Out.”

            Before Elec could protest, Axle cut out and disconnected. Elec sighed and rolled his eyes, swarming the ladder leading up to the next level of passages.

 

_Samdei 15  mars 2014, 02:43 PM PST  
Whale Gulch, California_

            It must’ve been the wine. That must’ve been what lead Star to go upstairs and check up on his ‘guest’. It hadn’t been enough to take more than a brief glance at the man stretch out on the patchwork quilt, but that had been a bad idea. A very, very bad idea

            Now he was sitting at his vanity, the curtains drawn  so he could hide in his little alcove. Star found himself fidgeting with various little baubles and trinkets, gathering up a small collection on the table before him with really noticing. He looked through them, turning each shiny piece in his fingers as he recalled the bumbling boy that gave them to him. At the time, Star hadn’t wanted any of them but kept on demanding the boy bring him ever more extravagant gifts just because it seemed amusing. And the boy went out of his way to fulfill every petty whim Star had, even though all he got back was abuse and even more outrageous demands. The boy put up with every single degrading errand, vicious game, and spiteful insult Star could think of…until **_that_** night.

            Picking up a pin made from a bright yellow daisy, Star recalled telling the poor boy once how nothing less than roses would ever be good enough for him. Not even the lovely flowers the boy had gone through so much trouble to grow and pick especially for Star. And then the boy promised to not only get him roses, but get him over a baker’s dozen…and they’d keep forever. He cringed at the memory, tossing the daisy away in shame as he picked out a random set of earrings and occupied himself with doing his make-up. After a final check in the mirror, Star stood and, after a brief hesitation, took the daisy and pinned it to his vest.

            Cautiously, he peeked out from the curtain. His guest was still laying on the bed, apparently unconscious. He went over to the bedside and forced himself to take a good, hard look at the man. For a long time, Star let his gaze wander over that brutal, industrialized body. Every inch of him was a man, except for his face which was still just a friendly and boyish as Star remembered it. He let his gaze slide down the thick cabling of his neck, noted how bright the red polymer was which covered the joints and other parts of his guest that needed movement. It was a sharp contrast to the dull gray paneling that covered the rest, making Star think of ashes over a still smoldering wood fire.

Star also noticed that his guest had obvious been built to have a very attractive physique, as if his creator had carefully studied many of those risqué fireman calendars to formulate the perfect heroic fantasy. It was kind of an odd choice, given what the boy did for a living, but Star felt oddly and deeply pleased by it. His guest’s creator had even gone as far as to sculpt the paneling and weave the synthetic muscles of his abdominal wall in such a way as to mimic those of an athletic young man. Star was more than a little disappointed to see that they hadn’t stripped his guest down further when they did the refueling, otherwise he might have seen whether or not those rumors he’d heard were right.

            Could that boy really have changed into such a man as this? Or had Star never really noticed? It couldn’t have been so long since the first time he’d seen the big oaf, leaning against the railing of the Teacup Ride and asking (in that loud, rude accent) if Star would go out with him. How long ago was that? Six, seven years ago? It felt like centuries since the days when Star felt entitled to be such a cruel, haughty diva. Maybe now he’d have a chance to make amends…

            Star reached out to touch his chest, only the have a claw firmly grab his hand.

            “Teacups…” came the slurred growl as Fire sat up, glaring at Star with eerie, golden eyes.

            Stammering and sputtering in surprise, Star backed away as soon as Fire released his grip.

            Fire never took his eyes off him as he lurched to his feet and loomed over Star.

            “You need to lie back down!” gasped Star, finally getting hold of himself. “Dzey said you need to rest and…and…”

            “I’m goin’,” said Fire in a quiet tone. He started to walk away but Star blocked his path.

            “Non! You ‘ave to stay!”

            “The hell I do. Now move.”

When he realized Fire wasn’t going to listen, Star angrily tried to shove him back on the bed. Somehow, during the brief struggle, Star ended up lying flat on his back underneath Fire with the larger robot pinning his wrists down with one claw.

“Well, ain’t this nice…” Fire purred, grinning and revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth. “Y’know, I can’t say I mind seein’ yah in this position.”

“We can’t! You…you don’t ‘ave enough fuel for dzis kind of dzing,” grumbled Star.

“This kind of thing?” asked Fire, raising an eyeridge. “Honey, just what exactly do yah think I’m gonna do to yah?”

            “Isn’t it obvious?” gasped Star, not even trying to hide his eagerness. “I mean, I am ‘elpless and unable to fight back against a big, strong man…even one dzat should be **_resting_**.”

            Fire smiled and let go of Star’s hands. “Well, when you put it that way…”

            Happily surprised, Star closed his eyes in anticipation of a kiss. And then he felt Fire suddenly get off the bed.

            “Where are you going?!” he barked, sitting up and watching Fire shrug the top of his overalls back on.

            Calmly, Fire pulled on his breastplate and gauntlets. “I’m gonna go get my lil’ brother and beat the livin’ hell out of Bubble for runnin’ off with him to begin with.”

            “But you can’t go!” repeated Star, following him downstairs.

            Fire stopped with his claw on the door handle and turned that angry golden glare on Star. “Listen, **_honey_** , I know yah’ve got yerself a man. And maybe he ain’t very good to yah, but I ain’t gonna be yer backdoor man. So kindly fuck off.”

            With a dramatic pull, Fire opened the door and stood there staring at the metal wall in front of him.

            “You can’t get out of ‘ere,” Star began softly as he stifled a sniffle. “Because dze base is in a full lockdown. Dzat means all blast panels have been dropped. Dze door is sealed, dze windows are blocked…” At the thought of being trapped in, he could feel it start to get harder to get any air. He hadn’t really noticed that foul sensation had been building until Fire demanded to leave. “We are stuck ‘ere till dzey call it off.”

            Fire looked at him for a long time, eyes still molten and angry. He turned away sharply and, drawing back a claw, lit up a narrow jet of blue flame as he moved towards the blast door.

            “Are you **_mad_**?! You don’t ‘ave enough fuel to do dzat!” snapped Star, grabbing hold of his arm. He quickly let go when Fire turned that blowtorch glare back on him.

            “Teacups, if yah touch me one more time, I’m gonna knock yer damn head off. Now, is there any other way out of this room?”

            Backing away, Star looked down at the floor and shook his head. He felt like the room had begun to spin, a nasty kind of pitching that made him ill and dizzy.

            “I didn’t hear that, honey,” growled Fire, slamming to door as he moved towards Star. “Yah’re gonna have to speak up.”

            “No.” Closing his eyes, Star hugged himself tightly and backed up against the closet door.

            “Honey…what’s wrong?” Fire asked, his tone softening. “Look, I didn’t mean to scare yah that bad.”

            “Me? Scared of **_you_**?!” Star laughed, the sound coming out shrill and anxious. He darted away and started nervously straightening thing on the dining table. “Don’t be stupid! Why would I be frightened of a silly little bumpkin!”

            A vase slipped out of Star’s hand and Fire immediately reached out to catch it. As he sat it back on the table, Fire said in a gentle voice, “Honey, yah’re shakin’ like a cat in the dog pound. Now what’s got yah so tore up, Teacups?”

             “I am fine!” snapped Star, scurrying away again and trying to keep his distance. He could feel _that_ feeling creeping up on him again, the tightening sensation of the walls collapsing in to smother him. Turning his back on Fire, he went to the counter by the backdoor and started rearranging the fruit in their basket. Star forced himself to keep a calm tone as he said, “Dzis isn’t really so bad. Dzey may just be running a drill, so dzis may be over very soon. Anyway, dzey ‘aven’t shut off dze power yet so…”

            As if on cue, the lights went out completely.

            Gasping for breath, Star backed up against the counter and strained to see through the darkness. He was too busy panicking to realize that he could have gone over to infrared…or maybe it was because he dreaded to face whatever was waiting for him. He vaguely heard Fire asking him something, but the other robot seemed so far away that to Star he might as well have been on the moon. Suddenly, Star saw a brief flash of red—like two eyes—appear just above the balcony. Star screamed in horror and tried to run only to be caught in a pair of very strong arms.

            “Easy there, Teacups!” rasped Fire, hugging the flailing robot close as he cut on his torch. “Take it easy… I ain’t gonna hurt yah, okay?”

            Looking up at him, Star went limp in his embrace and starting sobbing uncontrollably. He let Fire guide him over to the daybed. It took a few minutes of shushing and petting from Fire to get him calmed down enough even think straight.

            “Here, honey…” Fire held out a bandana and started wiping away the tears.

            “Thank you,” muttered Star, his voice quaking as he accepted the bandana. “You…you need to stop dzat. You don’t ‘ave dze fuel to…to keep it up.”

            “Okay. Do yah have any candles? And does that work?” asked Fire, jerking a claw toward the big stove by the wall.

            “Yes. Yes, it works. And…and dzere are plenty of candles,” Star said as he gestured around the room. “Light as many as you can, please. Just put out dzat torch!”

            “All right, all right…” Pulling away, Fire collected up a couple of candles and, after a moment’s hesitation, picked up a box of matches. He soon had nearly every surface near the daybed covered with shimmering candles and lamps, giving everything a pleasant, safe glow. Fire even went so far as to tuck a blanket around the still shivering Star before turning his attention to the stove.

            Curling up so his chin rested on his knees, Star watched him go through the motions of creating a fire. He jumped a little when Fire spilt a piece of wood down into smaller chunks, but soon he found himself mesmerized by how effortlessly the other robot cracked the bits of log apart. There was a practiced ease in the way Fire built up a pile in the stove, taking the wand out of the little black fire pot and absentmindedly lighting it off on of his hand torches before laying it down on the kindling. Star thought about fussing at him about that, but decided against it and settled back on the daybed.

            Fire stood and looked at him. “Well, that should be goin’ soon. Now do yah want coffee or tea, honey?”

            “I…uh, tea?” muttered Star as he stared up at him with wide eyes.

            “All right. And what would yah like to eat, Teacups?”

            Snuggling down into the blanket, Star said softly, “Any dzing is fine. Merci.”

            Fire simply nodded and, taking an oil lamp, went to the kitchen. Star heard him move around, opening cabinets and filling a couple of things at the sink. He came back into the sitting room with a kettle in one hand and a pitcher in the other. Putting the kettle on to heat, Fire scrounged up a jar of potpourri and dumped it into the enamel steamer before filling it up with water. He went over to Star and gently squeezed his shoulder before going back to the kitchen. Several minutes later, Fire came back with a tray that had a couple of sandwiches, plates, a cast-iron frying pan, a teapot and a pair of mugs.

            Star quietly watched him take the pan and, after checking to be sure the stove was hot enough, sat it down to heat up. He continued staring at Fire as he put the sandwiches in and then fixed the tea.

            “Y’know, it ain’t polite to stare Teacups.”

            “I was just…curious,” Star said, drawing up even deeper into the safety of the blanket. “I didn’t know you knew how to cook.”

            Fire shrugged slightly, flipping over the sandwiches with a claw. “Ain’t really too surprisin’. I mean, it’s playin’ with heat and flames, so it’s only natural for me. Used to just do the grillin’ then Roll started volunteerin’ me to help make dinner and with bakin’ things. I got to likin’ it so much, I think I’ve done run my sister out of the kitchen.”

            “It’s nice to see another man who admits ‘e likes to cook,” said Star with a small laugh. “Most of dze other guys live off of take-out, junk food and e-tanks. Some of dzem ‘ave a good reason, dzough… Like Toppy, who is dze single most ‘orrible cook I ‘ave ever met! ‘e is sweet and a wonderful dancer, but I just couldn’t stay with ‘im after finding dzat out.”

            “Really? I’d have thought him bein’ a lyin’, cheatin’ bastard would’ve been a good ‘nough reason not to date him.” Fire served up the sandwiches and started pouring the tea. “So, who’s yer new boy? Or did yah go runnin’ back to that Speedwagon idiot?”

            Star frowned and said quietly, “You really shouldn’t call ‘im dzat. ‘e is your twin…”

            “Exactly! Which gives me every god given right to call Elec everything but a white boy!” snapped Fire. “And ‘fore yah ask, yeah, I did knock the livin’ shit out of him the night he dumped yah. Then I knock a couple other flavors of shit out of him when he told me **_why_** he did. And then I came up here and beat the everlovin’ hell out of Snake for doin’ yah like that. Couldn’t find the other fella, Blondie, or I’d have kicked his sorry ass too.”

            “Mon petit loup was up ‘ere with me,” Star hissed back. “I was a bit…upset and ‘e dropped in to comfort me.”

            “Comfort you? Is that what they’re callin’ it now?” said Fire with a sharp-toothed grin. “By the way, how do yah like yer tea?”

            “Sugar, please. Merci.” Taking the mug from the other robot, Star said coldly, “And I will ‘ave you know dzat I am not sleeping with Zero. I love ‘im to death, but as mon cher petit frère.”

            “Well, appears that nobody told yer kid brother that,” grumbled Fire as he took a drink. “Boy acts like he’s yer man from what I’ve heard.”

            “Nothing more dzan silly rumors!”

            Fire chuckled darkly. “Honey, rumors don’t start ‘less there’s sumthin’ goin’ on. Even if it ain’t true on **_yer_** side of things, don’t mean that boy’s ain’t fool enough to fall for a brat like yah.”

            “I am not dze brat!” Star barked, huffing up in indignation. “And you’re just as bad as dze rest with dzese stupid rumors about me and Zero! Or Elec, or Snake, or whoever else you feel like pairing me off with! I’m getting sick of it!”

            “Well maybe if yah pulled yer head out yer ass, yah’d see that Blondie, Snake, Elec and a few other idiots really are head over heels in love with yah!” Fire growled back, then added in a bitter tone, “God help all of us…”

            “You are just ‘aving dze, ‘ow do you say, sour grapes?”

            Fire glared at him. “Honey, I wasn’t me who was staring like starved dog in butcher’s shop…”

            Mouth gaping, Star stared at him then angrily whispered, “You were awake dze whole time?”

            “I woke up ‘bout the time yah came upstairs. Figured I just wait and see what yah were doin’ ‘fore I did anythin’.” Fire leaned back with a shrug. “I was fully expectin’ you to come out of that little cubby-hole with a camera…”

            “Ha! In your dreams!” rasped Star as he turned his back on Fire. “Why would even bother with dze likes of you when, as you pointed out, I ‘ave so many other suitors to choose from?”

            Fire said nothing for a long time, then said in a quiet voice, “These are awful nice mugs, Teacups.”

            “Oh? Oh, oui!” Feeling relieved at the sudden change in his guest, Star smiled brightly at him. “Dzese are actually my favorites. I ‘ave a whole set of dzem, about thirteen or fourteen total I think. Oh, I love dzem so much. Dzey’re all different patterns, each one of dzem with roses…” Voice trailing off, Star’s smile faded as he noticed the look on Fire’s face. A baker’s dozen, roses that would keep forever…

            “I’m glad you like them, honey,” was all Fire said before he lapsed back into a gloomy silence.

            Star fidgeted with his mug, the guilt gnawing and twisting his inside apart. Finally he whispered, “Forgive me.”

            “For what?” came the angry rumble. “Honey, I brought that on myself for being stupid ‘nough to get strung along for years by sumbody that don’t deserve the effort. I was a damn fool who had it coming.”

            Shaking his head, Star felt tears running down his cheeks again. “Non! You…you didn’t… I went too far! I should ‘ave never done such a cruel, awful thing.”

            “Well, yah did honey. And it ain’t gonna do no good bein’ sorry ‘bout it now.” Getting up, Fire took up the frying pan and went towards the stairs. “Now, yah eat up while I go take care of sumthin’.”

            “And what would dzat be?” asked Star.

            Standing just at the foot of the stairs, Fire looked back over his shoulder with a smile. “Oh, I’m just fixin’ to wallop whatever booger monster is hidin’ up here, honey.”

            “ ** _What_**?!” gasped Star, scrambling to his feet and darting over to Fire. “You cannot do dzat!”

            “Why not?”

            Star stammered for a moment, then managed to whisper, “Please don’t do dzis. Just…just forget about it.”

            “Honey, sumthin’ scared the livin’ hell out of yah. It might turn out to be nuthin’, but I ain’t gonna just act like it didn’t happen.” With that, Fire went up the stairs and disappeared into the shadows.

            Trembling in his blanket, Star stood at the foot of the stairs quietly hoping the big oaf would come back. He thought he heard the sound of voices, as if  two or three people were trying to have an angry argument while whispering. Then there was a door opening, probably the closet, a brief scuttling sound, a loud bang and a heavy thump. This was soon followed by a low scraping and a noise like metal under strain, then a hammering sound. Finally, to Star’s instant relief, Fire reappeared at the top of the stairs.

            As soon as Fire came down, Star immediately latched onto him in a tight hug. He clung to him for a long time, sobbing and silently grateful he was alright. Then he let go and slapped Fire as hard as he could across the face. “Don’t you **_ever_** scare me like dzat again! You could’ve been killed!”

            “Killed? By this lil’ fella?” Fire held up a struggling Metool in one hand as he rubbed his jaw. “Looks like he got stuck in the closet ‘fore the power went out. By the way, sorry about yer pan. I…dropped it somewhere in the closet. And since it’s darker than bottom of a well on a moonless night…”

            “Don’t worry about it,” said Star as he dried his eyes on the bandana. “Just don’t do such stupid dzings.”

            “All right. But on one condition, honey.” Fire put the Metool down and lead Star back to the daybed. “Yah have to tell me **_who_** yah’re so afraid of.”

            Star sat back down near the stove, shifting to let Fire settle down on his other side. “It is a nothing. I fear no one, mon beauf.”

            “Honey, just ‘cause I am one don’t give yah the right to call me a redneck,” said the other robot as he wrapped an arm around Star’s shoulders. “Now quit bein’ a jackass and tell me what Mercury did to yah, Teacups.”

            “’ow did you **_know_** dzat?!” he gasped. “I never said it was ‘im!”

            “A lil’ snake told me,” said Fire as he pulled Star closer. “He didn’t say much more than the bastard hurt yah, hurt yah real bad. So talk to me, honey.”

            “Why? Why do you even care after… after what I did?”

            Fire gently stroked his hair. “Honey, right now that don’t matter. Now, will yah tell me what’s wrong?”

            There was a long stretch of silence, then the words gushed out of Star like a flood. He told him how it first started, when Star had been inspecting the seals in one of the observation deck. There had been nowhere to hide when the gravity cut out and Mercury pinned him against plexiglass to claim his ‘right’. He never even had a chance to scream. Then came the long, quiet nights of terror when Mercury would be waiting in Star’s bed. It was a surprise to Star how easy it was to talk about this with Fire, who only nodded and patiently gave him time calm down before continuing. Star told him of how he finally broke down after Metal refused to believe him and started sharing Snake’s quarters.

 In between his sobs, Star explained how Snake eventually found out what had happened after Mercury gotten so rough with him so he ended up in the repair bay. The battle had been hellish, ending in Snake, Galaxy, Metal, and Cosmo all being injured. But they did succeed in killing the monster… at least, so they thought. The nightmare only worsened when Bass showed up with Terra and that space cop to give them the ‘good’ news: that all the Stardroids had been repaired…and there were going to more coming to Earth soon.

It was then that Stars voice gave out and he collapsed against Fire.

“Honey, what did yah mean there are gonna be others?”

“Exactly dzat! Dzere are diplomats from some kind of intergalactic empire or somedzing. Dzey are all du sang royal, you see. Except for Terra, who was **_only_** a court physician.” Laughing bitterly, Star wiped his eyes. “I guess dzat explains why Mercury ‘e presumes ‘e ‘as the **_right_** to ‘ave me.”

“No.” Squeezing Star close, Fire said in a soft, angry tone, “Ain’t nobody have a right to do that to anybody!”

             Star wrapped his arms around Fire and sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Nodzing can give back what ‘e took from me. I just ‘ave to live with it and the fear of dark, closed places. You know, I’m shocked you are even upset to hear dzis ‘appened to me. I dzought dzat you wanted to see me—‘ow did Burner put it? See me put in my place?”

            “Ain’t nobody have a right to do that to yah,” repeated Fire. “And rest assured, honey, I will have a few words with that boy ‘bout sayin’ that to yah.”

            “But why do you care?! You said only an idiot could love me!”

            Fire laid back and sighed. “Yeah, well maybe I’m the biggest idiot of the bunch.”

            “But aren’t you worried about your brother and Stern?” asked Star with a yawn. He felt so emotionally drained and, with the room was so pleasantly cozy and the warmth coming off Fire, his eyes stared drooping.

            “They’re both…okay. The lil’ snake told me so…” answered Fire as his rubbed the smaller robot’s back. “But I am gonna tan Rock’s hide when I see him over what he done went off and did…”

            Star giggled lazily, shifting so he was sitting in Fire’s lap. “I feel so…so tired.”

            Fire moved so they were now laying on the daybed with Star resting on top of him. “Then yah go on and get sum shut eye. I promise yah ain’t nobody gonna harm yah. Not as long as I’m ‘round.”

            Smiling sadly, Star gave in and let his eyes close as he drifted off to sleep.

 

 


	4. ...Into the Fire

_Saturday, March 15, 2014 04:51:38 PM (PST)_

_Somewhere in the Wily Star…_

                “I tried to warn you,” grumbled Elec as he limped alongside Snake.

                “He hit me in the fuckin’ head,” Snake rasped, clutching his shattered upper eye. “With a fryin’ pan! All for sssssayin’ that he ssssshouldn’t have sssstarted in poor lil’ Ssssstar like that.”

                “Well, given what happened last time they saw each other, I’m amazed he’s being so…calm.”

                “Calm?! Fire almossssst sssssmassssshed my fuckin’ head in and you sssssay he’sssss being calm?!”

                Elec gave him a tight smile as he rubbed his aching jaw. “Believe me when I say that, after everything Star put him through, my brother was being absolutely saintly in his restraint. Though I think that might be because he finally got another   ** _good_** excuse to deck me. Now, moving on: Where is Terra’s quarters?”

                “Left, then down the next corridor, right and up the ladder to next level. Then go down corridor till you reach an observation deck and head into the corridor on the right.  Hisssss place will be the firssssst door on the left.” He followed closely behind Elec in silence until they reached the ladder. Then in a broken voice, Snake asked, “Look, jusssst tell me why you did it?”

                “Did what? ”  muttered Elec, shifting out of his armor over to one of his tamer  ‘Speedwagon’ outfits: a borderline obscene t-shirt, heavy boots and a utility kilt. “ Unwittingly destroying my brother’s chances of living the happily wedded life with Lily? Or was it when I ‘accidentally’ sicced a very pissed off Sheep on your sorry ass just for funsies? Or maybe it  was  when I narced on Stash Man? Or have you finally realized that I only dated Star because it hurt Fire so bad? Or is it something else? Because honestly Snake,  I’ve done a lot of really horrible and nasty shit recently so you’re going to have to be a little more specific.”

                “It wasssss Gemsssy, you rotten cunt!” came the sad croak. “I don’t give a flying sssshit about your petty little feud with Fire. And I’m willing to overlook what happen to Sssstassssh. I warned him about that ssssshit. In fact, I commend you, you fucking basssstard! Sssstasssh earned every bit of the nasssstinesssss you brought down on him for ssssselling capsss. He essssspecially desssssserved it after he went and gave Reaperssss to poor old Nitro. But takin’ away my Gemssssy?! It’ssss not fair! That’ssss not playing the game, y’know!  I’m not a handssssome or good man, but that doessssn’t give you the right to sssssteal him from me.”

                Shaking out his hair and adjusting the eyepatch, Elec sighed. “Listen, it was a mistake on my part, okay? I was drunk, pissed off, depressed and horny. When Gemini offered to ‘help’, I stupidly took him up on it. And I swear to God that I thought he was still single… If I’d known he had a boyfriend, I wouldn’t have.”

                “No! You **_knew_** , and sssstill you **_did_** _,_ ” rasped Snake.

                Elec rolled his eyes and started up the ladder.

                “You know,” growled Snake, staring up at him then grinning coldly. “You’re a fucking bassssstard, but at leassssst I can take ssssome comfort in knowing Gemsssssy’ssss got enough tasssste to go for a man who’sssss a traditionalissssst in certain matterssss…”

                “Oh, thank you so fucking much!” Dragging himself up and out, Elec stood in the middle of a star-shaped intersection of sixteen hallways. “Okay, which corridor do we take again, Snake? …Snake?”

                Elec looked around a moment, then glanced down the ladder to find the other robot had completely disappeared. Snarling a litany of curses, Elec looked around then spied a panel just inside one of the corridors.  He pulled his hair back and, un-shunting his tool-bag, headed towards it with an evil grin.

 

_Meanwhile…_

                “I’m sorry about your back,” Rock said shyly as he tugged the sweater over his head. “I got a bit carried away…”

                Zero just smiled and shrugged on his armor. “It is all right, Rock. I…I kind of liked the feeling. By the way, how’s your neck?”

                “Eh, well…” Blushing, Rock rubbed his neck. “As long as I keep wearing turtlenecks until the auto-repair finishes, it’ll be okay. “

                “Did I really hurt you that badly?” asked Zero, leaning forward to inspect the mark on Rock’s neck.

                “No! It’s fine, really. It’s just… Well, I kind of don’t know how to explain to my brother’s how I got a… a hickey.” His face burning even brighter, Rock got up and moved toward the door. “So, what do we do now?”

                Zero purred and slipped behind him. “Well, we could just stay here a bit longer and…you know.”

                “I’d love to, but I think Terra might want his room back,” said Rock then he grinned. “But we could always go get a pizza and then spend the rest of the night together at your place.”

                Hugging Rock close, Zero nuzzled his hair happily. “Ooh, I like that idea. Yes! Let’s do that!”

                Rock laughed and twisted around to kiss the blond’s lips.

                Suddenly, the door shot open and in stormed Snake. He advanced on the pair, tail rattling in fury as he snarled, “You rotten ssssssson of a bitch! **_How could you_**?!”

                “Wait! I can explain, Snake,” Zero began, stepping in front of Rock protectively.

                “Blondie, sssssweetie, you ssssstay out of thisssss,” rasped Snake as he gently shoved Zero aside and got up in Rock’s face. “How fuckin’ dare you take advantage of thissssss poor, innocent little boy! I’d have thought better of you, Rock! Misssssster Goodnesssss and Light! The _Heroic Megaman,_ Defender of Truth, Jusssssstice, and all that sssssshit!” He spat angrily. “Ha! You’re no better than the bassssssstard!”

                “I…uh, well you see…” Rock stammered helplessly, backing away from Snake.

                “Lay off the schoolboy, Snake.”

                They all turned to look at Speedwagon, leaning against the doorframe with a reckless grin as he twirled a screwdriver in one hand. He quickly put it back into his pocket like a gunslinger holstering a pistol. “Now, what is going on here?”

                Before anyone else could speak, Rock blurted out, “IT’S A SPOOFER! I…I put in a spoofer, okay?!”

                “Oh? A ssssssspoofer, eh?” rasped Snake, then he pointed at Zero. “Ssssso where’d you get hisssss?”

                “Uh, what?”

                “I ssssaid where did you get a ssssspoofer for Blondie?”

                Zero stared at him. “Snake, what are you talking about?”

                “He wants to know if you have a spoofer too,” answered Speedwagon. “By the way Blondie, do you even know what that is?”

                “Of course! It’s a…a…” Zero paused, brow furrowing in confusion as his eyes unfocused slightly. “Uh, it’s a kind of food, isn’t it?”

                Everyone  gave him a long, quiet look. Then Speedwagon smiled broadly and went over to Rock. “Well, looks like the schoolboy and I have to go. Promised his sister I’d have him home for dinner.”

                “Yesssss… We need to be leaving too,” rasped Snake in a tone of maternal disapproval. He took hold of Zero’s shoulders and steered him out the door. “Come along, Blondie. **_We_** have to have a long talk about sssssome thingsssss.”

                “Rock, I… I will see you soon,” gasped Zero before Snake managed to sweep him out into the hall.

                Rock started to go after them but stopped when he felt Speedwagon’s hand on his shoulder.

                “I can tell you want to, schoolboy, but take my advice: don’t. When Snake gets in one of his mothering moods, he’s nearly impossible to deal with.” He gently tousled Rock’s hair, sticking it up with static. Walking over to the bed, Speedwagon picked something up off the floor and asked, “Now, I don’t mean to be rude but I have to know: did he use a condom?”

                “Well…uh, see I did most of the….no, wait! I take it back….actually, we didn’t…” Stammering, Rock looked down at the floor with a hurt look on his face. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. He’s only going to be with Star from now on.”

                Pocketing the mysterious object, Speedwagon coolly said, “Star? He’s got nothing to do with this.”

                “But Zero and him…”

                Speedwagon smiled gently. “There’s nothing going on between them, schoolboy. Blondie isn’t Star’s type. But that still doesn’t excuse you two having sex without at least some kind of protection. I mean, just because neither of you have fucked before doesn’t mean—”

                “But Zero’s had other…well, other people. I mean, he knew what he was doing when we…”

                “Blondie was a virgin.”

                Rock blinked and stared at him in shock. “I’m sorry? He…he was a…”

                “A virgin. I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you, though. It was a kind of a sore point with Blondie. See, the other Robot Masters liked to tease him about it, taking potshots about him not being a ‘real man’ until Blondie would lose his temper. And he has a very nasty temper...which only made it harder for him to get someone. See, because of how violent he is, everyone is too afraid that Blondie would snap and kill them to even talk to the monster. Poor bastard is so threatening that he couldn’t even hire a hooker,” purred Speedwagon, trying to be sympathetic but unable to keep the smug smirk off his face. “So congratulations! You have done the impossible! You’ve gone and punched the V-card of the most dangerous being in the known Universe.”

                “He didn’t tell me!” gasped Rock, then he frowned sadly. “Well, that explains why he didn’t…”

                “Didn’t what?” asked Speedwagon, leaning close.

                “Nothing! It’s… it’s not important.” Forcing a bright smile, Rock said politely, “So what are you doing here? I thought you’d be home with the others.”

                 “Home? Others? Schoolboy, what the hell are talking about?”

                “Listen, you can drop the act Elec,” Rock said with a sigh.

                He gave Rock a funny look, as if he was looking slightly behind him. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re a bit mistaken.”

                Rock huffed and rolled his eyes. “Look Elec, this is getting kind of old….”

                “What’s getting old? I’m telling you, my name is Speedwagon,” grumbled the other robot. He continued staring just past Rock’s ear as he happily said, “Though I admit this Elec sounds…like a complete asshole, to be honest. In fact, I would hazard a guess that he is the biggest jerk in the world to you.”

                “Really? You left out he’s a horrible lying liar who lies! Because that’s exactly what you are!” Hands balling into fists, Rock snapped, “Would it fucking kill someone to tell me the truth for once?!”

                “Very well,” boomed a voice the door way. “I’ll **_gladly_**   tell you the truth.”

Horrified, Rock slowly turned to see Blues looming in the doorway. He looked down at him with a blank glare, like he wasn’t really even looking at Rock at all.

“Elec is still at the Light house, handcuffed to a bed.  Though I will agree that he is indeed a-how did you put it? A horrible lying liar that lies,” said Blues as he came toward them.

  Rock instantly noticed the way he was limping showed he'd recently been critically damaged despite his efforts to hide it. “Are you okay?”

“Never felt better!” Blues barked , smiling brightly. “Though I’m sorry to say that as much as I would like to confirm your suspicions that Elec is really the nefarious Mister Speedwagon, I have to rely on the evidence. Evidence which proves that, lying sack of shit though he may be, Elec is still in bed since I checked in with Agent Kratz.  Which was five minutes ago. Which isn’t enough time for the little fucker to get here. Even using long jumps and shortcuts, Elec could not make it to the Wily Star in less than thirty minutes.” He noticed the looks on both their faces and gave an even brighter, more disquieting smile. “Oh! Sorry, I wasn’t interrupting anything was I? Didn’t ruin the mood, did I?”

                “Nothing happened. It’s spoofer, Blues,” Rock said quickly, then he started move towards him to assess the damage only to cringe back at the weirdly empty look on Blues’ face.

                “Of course it is,” said Blues as he leaned in close to stare down his little brother, still smiling that doll-like non-smile. “But  where did you get one? Spoofer are kind of niche item. You’d have to go to a lot of stores that sell very specialized types of toys to even find a vendor who could get you one. Those little toys are also always really, really expensive.  Present from you dear old **_friend_** Bubble? Oh! By the way, what are you doing all the way up here?”

He felt himself wilting under Blues’ lifeless glare. “Yeah, that’s right. Bubble gave me it so all of this crap with you guys fighting over me would stop. And I’m up here because, when Copy tried to help me leave but I got grabbed by Terra… And I…I…uh…erm…”

                Speedwagon suddenly sprang to the defense. “And he ran into me. See, last night Elec called me up to find his baby brother since he is, as you pointed out, currently handcuffed to the bed. I finally managed to track the little guy up here, did some shenanigans with a breaker box to get access to the room, and… Well, basically I’m here to rescue the schoolboy.”

                “Really? Well, I’m sorry but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” Grabbing Rock’s arm, that skull-faced smile stuck firmly in place as Blues dragged him towards the door.  “I’ll be taking my little brother home, Mister Speedwagon.”

                “Hey, wait…” rasped Speedwagon, darting in front of them to block the way. “What gives you the right to drag the kid around like that? Doesn’t he have a say in this?”

                Blues’ grip on Rock’s arm tightened, his expression suddenly coming  back to life with an vicious anger Rock had never seen before.  Even through the thick, dark lenses, the burning red of his damaged eye showed clearly. Then, it vanished that horrible hollow smile snapping back in place as he stared down Speedwagon. “Excuse me, sir, but if you don’t get out of the way, I will…”

                “I’d rather go home with Speedwagon!” barked Rock, jerking his arm free. “I… I need some time to think and... I have somethings to talk with Mister Speedwagon about. Okay?”

                For a long, tense moment, Blues just stared at him in that malicious rage. Then he shrugged, expression going blankly pleasant again. “All right. But if my little brother is not back home by 19:30, I will hunt you down, Mister Speedwagon. And I will kill you. Eventually.”

                “Well, that’s awfully generous!” purred Speedwagon with a grin. “The drives only about two and half hours. Which, if we left about now, gives us a time to spare!”

                Blues meet his grin with an empty smile. “Wonderful! That’ll give you and Rock plenty of time to have a nice long…talk.  I’m sure you’ll be done by the time I get back. I have to go and take care of some business of my own now.”

                On that, Blues turned sharply and left, his scarf billowing out like a cape.

                “I should go after him,” Rock said quietly. “I… I can’t just stand here and let him just walk away.”

                “Well, if you want to go running after Booze the Vile, be my guest,” answered Speedwagon. “But I’ll tell you it’s a mistake.”

                “I didn’t mean Blues! I’m talking about Zero!” He sighed and sat back on the bed. “I shouldn’t have let Snake bully me like that… god, Zero must think I’m a wuss not to have done something. I should’ve told him off and—”

                “And gotten Snake killed.”

                Rock jumped, shaking his hands. “No! I wasn’t going to fight Snake!”

                “But Blondie **_would_** ,” said Speedwagon in a matter of fact tone.  “Because Snake was _threatening_ you, Rock.  And Blondie’s gotten attached to you. This guy did give you the severed head of a guy who tried to kill you.”

                “How did you know that?” Backing away, Rock stared at him.

                “I asked Bubble. We had a little chat first thing this morning.” Speedwagon kept a polite distance. “He explained what happened at Camp Parks and how he was trying to keep you safe. Bubble was the one who sent Copy to get you and see that you got home safely.”

                “Bubble sent him? He wanted me to get home safe,” repeated Rock,  staring vacantly across the room as the guilt crept up on him.  He could feel tears burning in his eyes as he said,  “I… I thought he was going to… I really thought he was acting on Wily’s orders and…and…”

                “Don’t cry, schoolboy,” said Speedwagon, offering him a hankie. “You didn’t know. Anyway, it won’t change anything now. What happened, happened and you just have to move on.”

                “But I thought he was going to—”

                “But you didn’t **_tell_** him anything, did you?” asked Speedwagon. When Rock shook his head to the negative, he smiled and patted his head. “So, you suspected Bubble had bad intentions, but you never said anything to him about it. Therefore, I don’t see the problem.”

                “I said it to Copy!” gasped Rock as he hopped to his feet. “I told him exactly what I was thinking and…and…”

                “And Bubble won’t believe it because Copy is kind of…eh, _biased_ where you’re concerned.” Gently putting an arm around Rock’s shoulders, Speedwagon lead him with a light touch to the hall. “If I were, I wouldn’t worry about Bubble right now. You can always apologize to him later. But now we need to get out of here before Terra comes back.”

                “Oh! Him? Yeah…I kind of forgot all about Terra,” said Rock as he let Speedwagon steer him down the winding corridors. There was a long pause, then he said sheepishly, “Do you think Terra’d be mad about the mess? All that…eh, stuff got all over his sheets. I don’t think that or the lube is going to come out in the wash. Oh! Do you think he’ll be upset with us for using all that lube without asking? I mean, we had to use so much that we wound up using almost the whole thing. I’ll get him another bottle if he asks and clean up the…eh…oh…”

                They stopped just shy of a bank of teleport pads, blocked by one very disgusted and annoyed Terra flanked on either side by a group of robots that dress almost exactly like Shadow Man.

                “I would prefer if you didn’t,” began Terra, advancing on them. “And I also thank you for not soiling my papers. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to burn all my bedclothes and the mattress. I will not abide sleeping in the plague dog’s filth.”

Rock started to stammer out an apology, but Speedwagon cut him off.

“What’s the matter? Pissed it’s not **_yours_** , Terra?” came the snarl. 

The Stardroid ignored him and continued glaring at Rock. “So take that and your lack of a signal as proof that you took care of the problem, yes?”

“Yes. I…I took care of it.”

Terra’s expression brightened into a pleasant smile. “Good! Now get the hell out of my base.”

With that, he walked past them, purposely bumping into Speedwagon  as he went. The Shadow Men followed him, except for one with an oddly genderless build. This one came right up to Rock and stared at him intensely.

“I suddenly understand why he was so angered,” they said in a raspy purr. “You are a very lovely young man. If you were my eromenos, I would be just as furious.”

“Your **_what_**?” asked Rock, backing into the protective grip of Speedwagon.

“Well, he’s not. So fuck off,” was all Speedwagon said as he guided Rock towards a platform.

The odd Shadow Man clone watched them, then called after them pleasantly, “If you decide that the plague dog, the bastard, and this _musician_ or any of those other fools are too dull for you, please come seek me, lovely one.”

“Uh…okay? Maybe?” Smiling nervously, Rock climbed onto the platform and scooted over slightly to allow Speedwagon to squeeze in beside him. “By the way, what’s your name? I don’t think we’ve meet before?”

“Algos. Know that I am Algos of Pinn-kolo, most kindly one.” They bowed and turned suddenly, darting off down the hallway.

“Please don’t encourage him,” grumbled Speedwagon, prying open the relay panel and fiddling around inside.

“I was just trying to be polite. She seemed kind of…nice?” Squirming, Rock started babbling. “And she was kind of pretty…well, seemed pretty. Kind of hard to tell with the face mask… Algos has really pretty eyes anyway. I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes that color before, kind of a blue white like inside a seashell. She did have little problem with the personal space thing, but…”

“He,” corrected Speedwagon as he shut the panel and punched in coordinates. “Algos is a male. And I warn you to not even think about doing _anything_. You shouldn’t fuck crazy.”

Rock gave him a miserable smile. “Of course. Yet another time I find a very pretty boy attractive who also happens to be…uh, not nice.”

Speedwagon only smiled and shrugged. “So you have a type. Nothing wrong with that. Now, if you don’t have any more questions, where do you want to eat?”

“Uh, any place is fine,” said Rock in surprise. “And I’ve got just one thing I’ve been meaning to ask: Why are you wearing a skirt?”

“It’s not a skirt, it—,” Speedwagon mashed the ‘go’ button, sending them off to whatever location he’d programmed.

“—‘s a kilt,” finished Speedwagon as landed on the sidewalk outside of Dollies’.

“What are we doing here?” asked Rock as he stared up at the building. “I thought we were going to drive back.”

“We are. It’s just that my car’s parked here,” said Speedwagon as he lead Rock inside, then added in an almost silent growl, “And the bastard said I couldn’t do it in under thirty minutes…”

Rock gave him a sharp glare, then sighed as he pretended not to have heard him. He sat down at a table across from Speedwagon with his back to the front door and let him order for them: A burger and fries for himself, and a large mug of coffee for Speedwagon. Rock ate silently, only glancing up when Speedwagon discreetly took out a phone and quickly sent a text. Rock watched with mild interest as he put the phone away, got up and went over to talk with a robotic woman in overalls. It was only when Speedwagon returned and slide a sheet of paper in front of him that Rock spoke up. “Uh, what’s this?”

“A job application!” said Speedwagon brightly, taking a sip of his twelfth cup of coffee. “Lucifer’s been looking for a new gofer and you’re mechanically inclined, so…”

“I can’t work,” Rock said in a dull tone. “I don’t have any Turing results. Dad... Dr. Light refuses to let me or Roll go in for testing.”

“And that’s a problem because…?”

“You cannot get a job without them.” Taking a sip from his soda, Rock said softly, “Businesses are required by law from what I’ve heard to have proof that Robots

“Actually, you **_can_**. There’s actually no laws on the books requiring a business has to be provided with Turing results,” replied Speedwagon with a smirk. He started to say more but was cut short by a sudden ringing. Politely excusing himself as he took out a cell phone, Speedwagon gave him a wink then looked at the text.  Slowly his eyes went wide in shock and he stared at it for a very long time. He kept scrolling back up to read it in disbelief before he angrily typed out a reply and shoved it back into his pocket.

Leaning forward, Rock asked, “Who was it?”

 “Nobody!” barked Speedwagon, smiling again. “Now, where was I… OH yeah! Turing tried to pass it in that fucking Robotics Control Bill three years ago, but it never made it past Congress. It was one of those rare moments when nearly all the bastards _agreed_ that the whole damn RC bill was too much of a fucking mess to be practical. So Turing can’t do a god damn thing about it if a robot refuses to take the test or a business hires robots without those results. Oh, Turing can **_threaten_** a business with lawsuits and fines all they want, but Turing hasn’t got a legal leg to stand on.”

“So? They’ll just pass a new version of the Control Bill and I’ll have to take the test eventually.”

 “No. You won’t ever have to do that!” He gulped down the last of the coffee and, accepting a fresh mug from the server, began talking rapidly in an almost giddy tone, “According to the current federal laws, Turing cannot and never has been legally able to administer any kind of tests. See, because they have refuse to let anyone else make their own tests by using a variety of means (legal and otherwise), they’ve become a monopoly.  And if there the US government dislikes, it’s a monopoly. Especially one that’s been costing them a shit-ton of money since the 70s… Oh! And on a more practical note: Dolly doesn’t give a flying shit about Turing or it’s bullshit ‘standards’. So I fail to see you having a problem landing this job.”

“Well, that’s all really interesting, but you’re forgetting one thing: You’re assuming that I even **_want_ ** this job in the first place,” grumbled Rock. “And you are also assuming that I don’t have any other plans for my future. You know what happens when someone assumes?”

“They make an ass of u and me.” Still giggling, Speedwagon rolled his eyes as he continued to ignore the ringing. “And I don’t mean to be an ass, but I’m only trying to help you out. It’d do you good to get out and work, even part-time. Oh, and the pay’s pretty good too! Be enough to take Blondie out some place nice and fancy.”

Rock’s face flashed bright red. “Whoa! I… We aren’t even **_dating_**. Not that that’s ever going to happen anyway…”

“Why not?”

Frowning, Rock said sadly, “Zero and I are just…just friends.”

“So you’re fuck buddies?” said Speedwagon. “Or is it something else?”

“Look, we didn’t… It’s not what you think…” Rock fiddled with a french-fry. “I’m not even sure I should talk to you about it.”

“Why not? Don’t you trust me?”

Rock thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, I’ll tell you. But you have to prove that I can trust you first.”

“Shoot!”

Smiling coldly, Rock said, “Elec, how are you pulling off being in two places at once?”

Opening and closing his mouth, he finally slumped in defeat. “All right. I confess! I, Elec Light, am also the infamous and meddlesome musician, Mister R.E.O Speedwagon. I took up a full-time career as a singer and guitarist about seven years ago after the uptight, pigheaded overly moral morons dad left running his company  found out about I had taken a second job acting in films they did not approve of and forced my boss to at the plant to fire me on the spot.  And ironically, I wouldn’t have even done any of them if the fuckers hadn’t went and demanded over seventy percent of my pay check to cover ‘monthly maintenance’ they never fucking did!”

He sighed loudly, then smiled. “Of course, the power company has a shiny new power station opening up near Caspar and they’ve been trying to get me to sign back on as a foreman. With a much higher salary and a very, very nice benefits package if I came back. And, most importantly, no mandatory 24-7 ‘contractual purity’ clause in the contract. But I don’t think I will take… I really do love performing  onstage, plus there’s no risk of the corporate busybodies barging back in, telling me what I can and cannot do in my own private life. So now you know my dark, dark secret. I’ll tell you anything else but I won’t reveal my stage name nor anything about the…eh, the films I’ve been in. No one but my ex-fiancée knows that. A man has to have some secrets…”

“Fair enough,” said Rock. “So, other than Rosie, who else knows?”

“In our family?” Elec sighed, digging out a pack of cigarettes. “Guts, Fire, Oil and Auto are the only ones who know what I’m doing for a living now. By the way, you’d better breath a fucking word of this to Dad or any of the little ones, or I will kill you.”

“Why not? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being onstage. Besides, what so bad about being in a couple of movies?”

Elec fiddled with his cigarette, falling silent as he stared down at the table in shame. Then, to his visible relief, the ringing began again.

“Excuse me for a moment…” He pulled out his phone and went outside . When he returned several minutes later,  Elec said quietly, “Rock, the number one reason I don’t want Dad to know I’m Speedwagon is because I’m on parole.”

Rock blinked at him in shock. “What?!”

“I am on parole. The way it currently stands is that I kind of have a criminal record, only I actually don’t due to circumstances. I was planning on tell all of you the truth before then, but since the news used my stage name in all the fucking reports, the little bastard that the great and mighty board of directors for Light, Inc.’s  sent to serve as my legal counsel told me to keep my big mouth shut to avoid yet another scandal,” muttered Elec as he lit the cigarette.

Rock gave him a disbelieving look. “How can you **_kind of_** have a criminal record?”

“There was an…an incident at Daly City,” began Elec in a dry tone. “A bunch of pissed of robots were marching down the street to protest the fucking RC Bill and a group of human supremacist just happened to be having their own march coming ended up it. It seemed like things would resolve peacefully…eh, well, without any violence. And then that little shit for Turing went and opened his fucking mouth…  Long story short, I ended up in a fight with a guy I thought was a robot. Turns out the bastard was a heavily augmented cyborg suffering a psychotic break. He…lived, but suffered extensive nerve damage. I was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But I was extremely lucky to get a judge sympathetic to robots. Due to my actions having been in accordance with the Asimov laws, he gave me two years parole plus the chance to be given a ‘clean slate’ if I behave myself. And I’ve only got a month left, so hopefully Dad never needs to know.”

“Wait a minute,” Rock said as he thought over what Elec just told him. “If it was a Three Laws issue, that would mean you had to have been defending a human. Actually, now that I think about it, Agent Kratz was at Daly City around that time and got caught up in a riot that involved a bunch of angry robots…”

Elec stared up at the ceiling as he quietly smoked.

                “Elec, what were you doing there?”

                Inhaling deeply, Elec leaned forward then huffed out a cloud of minty smoke. “I was there getting married.”

                “Huh?! You’re married?” gasped Rock, choking up from the smoke and his own pleasant surprise. “So who are they? Do I know them?”

                “It was annulled,” said Elec in a flat tone which never changed as he spoke. “Never got consummated anyway. Rosie and I never got past the courthouse steps before we got served papers stating our union was declared null and void since at the time a robot was not able be in any form of sexual or legal relationship with a human. Including marriage. **_Especially_ ** marriage. The law has recently been changed, though…and Rosie’s engaged again.”

                “Good!” Rock said brightly. “I happy to see you and her are going to try and—”

                “His name is Mister Samuel M. Hale.” Stamping out the butt of his cigarette, Elec quickly lit another. “He’s a dull little lawyer in some dull little government job. Mister Hale is a quiet man in a gray flannel suit leading a quiet and respectable life in the ‘burbs of Oakland. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke. He likes to go jogging. Loves dogs, cats and volunteers at the animal shelter. Loves kids and—this is the very important part, so pay attention— Mister Hale wants to start a quiet little family someday. And that’s Rosie really wants too: a family. A **_real_** one, not one built out of a box.”

                 “I think you’re being a little harsh, Elec,” Rock said softly. “I mean, I don’t think Rosie would say something like that to anyone, especially not somebody she cares about.”

                “It was implied by what she **_didn’t_** say. But it doesn’t matter anymore,” said Elec coldly as he brushed Rock off, then his tone became friendly again. “Also, just for future reference: **_Never_** call me Elec in public again. If I’m out of armor in public and I’m **_not_** required to be Professor Elec Light, only use the name Speedwagon.”

                “Why?”

                Frowning, Elec sighed and blew out smoke rings. “Other than that little parole thing? Not many people actually know my real identity. Aside from your other big brothers, my bandmates and a select few, I’ve never told anyone else the truth. Oh, there’s a bunch of speculation about it, though most people presume Speedwagon really is Quick Man. Just like you assumed when you came in here on Valentine’s Day.”

                “Well, excuse me!” huffed Rock. “I didn’t recognize you without your armor on. Actually, I’ve never seen you without armor before. You’d never let me help with your repairs. And you won’t even let **_Dad_** do work on you anymore. You always got Auto to do it…”

                Elec squirmed and took a gulp of his now cold coffee. “I… I have a very good reason for that. Let’s just say that it’s not something I like sharing with others and leave it at that.”

                Rock rolled his eyes. “Look, if it’s the tattoos…”

                “No, no. That’s not the… issue,” grumbled Elec. “But that’s a good guess. Just trust me, Rock, you do not want to see without my…*ahem* **_face_** on. Now, can we drop it and move on to you explaining whatever is going on with you and Blondie?”

                “His name is **_Zero_** ,” Rock corrected. “And…and we’re only just friends. Honest.”

                “The way you’ve been talking about him doesn’t sound like **_you_** want to ‘just be friends’.”

                Rock only shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I want. He’s flat out said he loves Star, so that’s that.”

                “But that isn’t.” Snuffing out his cigarette, Elec said gently, “Blondie’s **_attracted_** to Star and they both care deeply about each, but I wouldn’t call his feelings ‘love’ in a romantic sense. But when it comes to you, I’m not very sure.”

                “Well, Zero seems pretty clear about it,” he grumbled, finishing off his soda.

                “Blondie’s extremely protective of you, Rock,” said Elec as he inspected his long, claw-like nails. “I mean, he’s gone to lengths to make sure you’re kept safe that are surprising coming from him. Blondie’s even willing to talk to **_Bubble_** civilly to help you. Normally, not even Star or Snake can keep him and fatass from trying to murder each other.”

                “Bubble isn’t a fatass! And stop calling him that!” Rock snapped hotly. In a calmer tone, he added, “Bubble is a very nice person, all things considered.  And Zero can be just as nice, if only people would just give him a chance.  It shouldn’t be surprising they’d put aside some petty feud to help someone in need. Anyway, you’re just exaggerating how bad their stupid rivalry is.”

                Glancing up at the ceiling with a long suffering sigh, Elec said cold, “They’ve been trying to kill each since Wiley first activated the monster. Wiley gave Blondie only one real weakness, presuming quite correctly, that it would be the very last weapon in the world anyone would think of to battle the Ultimate Killer Robot with.”

                Rock gave him a confused look. “You mean Zero’s weak to Wild Coil?”

                “Uh, no.”

                “So it’s Plug Ball? Spark Shot? Charge Kick? **_Top Spin_**?!” Rock asked rapidly. “Seriously, it’s Top Spin right? It has to be because that is the worst weapon anyone could use.  Unless you’re Top Man, but he’s got wheeled feet and can also fall back on his Tops of DOOM…”

                “Bubble Lead.”

                For a long moment, Rock could only stare at him in disbelief. Then he said, “Bubble Lead? Are you serious?”

                “Yes. I’m very serious.”

                “Right…” Rock said, not fully believing it. “So that’s his weakness, but that doesn’t mean Zero has any reason to hurt Bubble and vice versa. I mean, there a plenty of Robot Masters who are weak to each other’s power but they don’t go around fighting each other. Heck, even Bubble and Heat get along pretty well from what I’ve heard.”

                “I said if before, but it bears repeating: Blondie’s nothing like the others,” rumbled Elec, idly checking another text on his phone. He tucked the phone away and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “He was purposely built to destroy **_anything_** that gets in his way. Especially if it poses a threat to him. So naturally, once he’d dealt with Wiley, Blondie’s decided to move on to neutralizing Bubble.”

                “Actually, he went after _Mega Man_ remember? Zero kidnapped Roll and that’s how we first met ,” corrected Rock in a sad tone.  He slumped down in his seat. “I guess I should’ve figured things would go nowhere given that Zero was just trying to fight me. I mean, I should know better than to fall for a guy like that…again.”

                “Nice to know you’re still hung up on Bass,” grumbled Elec, rolling his eyes.

                “I am not,” snapped Rock, then he said, “Shouldn’t we be getting home?”

                “And end our little brotherly chat?!” Elec gasped with a smirk.

                Rock frowned at him. “I’m serious, Elec. It’s almost six thirty and I don’t think Blues was kidding about killing you if I’m late.”

                “Well, when you put it that way…” Still smirking, Elec got up, paid their bill, and lead Rock outside to a very sleek white car with a large bird painted in various tones of blue on the hood. He wordlessly held the door for his little brother, waiting till Rock was securely inside before strutting around and getting into the driver’s seat.  He turned the radio on, skimming the stations till he found one playing something loud and filled with guitars then whipped out onto the road.

 

               

               


	5. The Calm

** Chapter 05: ** **_The Calm_**

_15 March 2014 17:07:49 Uniform  
_ _Whale Gulch, California_

            Leaning against the side of the teleport pad, Blues took a few deep breathes to steady himself before switching out his armor for civilian clothes. He stepped down and straightened his tie as he considered his next move. There might be issues convincing some of the idiots to go along with this, but he was almost certain that all of Wiley’s other robots were jealous enough to do exactly what he was expecting them to do. But if he couldn’t appeal to their collective erotomania, Blues knew he could always get them to in line by playing on that special, mutual hatred of the monster who was the only one of his creation that Wiley ever claimed as his ‘Son’…

Well, the only one besides Blues himself of course, but none of those bastards needed to know _that_ little detail. It would not do to have to jackasses find out about him being  ‘the first,  the smartest, the most dangerous and (most importantly) the only **_competent_** one’ of Wily’s creations. He figured it’d be much more effective to wait till Bass had some kind of nice, public triumph to pop that little bit of information on them all. But that and his own ego stroking could wait for a later date. Now he needed to work on the current plan.

He was confident that there wasn’t going to be any problems with getting the idiots riled up into a big, snarling mob ready to be unleashed against the monster. In fact, that was going to be the easy part. The real challenge would be keeping Rock out of the way long enough to dispose of all the garbage, but Blues was certain that he’d find some kind snipe hunt to send his dear little brother on. Maybe convince Yammark into getting his ‘friends’ to play punching bag while he made damn sure the monster was disposed of. Hell, he might as well set things up to get rid of all the rest of them too, just to be efficient and tidy. Then after the carnage, all he needed to do was wait till the literal dust settled and be there at the ready to help his poor little brother pick up the pieces.

            But who to start with first?

            Blues started down the hallway, whistling idly as he debated his options. He could go see Bubble first and goad him with all the details of what the monster did to poor, innocent little Rock. But even thought that Rock not only let himself be _degraded_ by the monster but also **_enjoyed it_** left Blues feeling sick, shamed, and impotent. Anyway, given his reading of Bubbles’ general psychology, the lard ass was so willing to martyr himself for the sake of making Rock happy that nothing short of concrete proof that the monster outright **_raped_** him would convince Bubble to go kill the fucker. He really doubted that Shadow would be willing to help out by giving him the footage to alter after being tricked into locking himself in an isolation tank. Then there was also the tiny little fact that Blues took a few potshots at the fat bastard while he was pinned under that gate…just to be sure.

            Mentally scratching the Lard of Sea off his list, Blues was considering his next move when a pair of bickering Sniper Joes came walking straight toward him.

            He and the duo froze, staring for several seconds in shock. Blues casually noted that one Sniper Joe looked normal, but scruffy, while the other… Well, he somehow managed even in full armor to be the most screamingly flamboyant queen Blues had seen in his life.

            “How the fuck? We just killed—” began the scruffy one before he was slammed to the floor, causing the pansy to shriek.

             “This is just too fucking much,” Blues snarled, grinding his heel into the scruffy Joe’s face as he grabbed the other by the throat. “I’ve had to put up with you goddamn pieces of crap for almost my entire life, but now **_this_**? You must have more balls than brains to drag up that old shit about me not being man enough—”

            “EXCUSE YOU?!” snapped the pansy Joe in a rage as they tried to jerk out of Blues’ clutches. “I AM A WOMAN, NOT A MAN!!”

            Blues loosened his grip. “I’m sorry? You’re a what?”

“I said I’m a woman!” Angrily, the Joe yanked off their helmet, revealing a face nearly identical to Blues’ own… except for the surprisingly tasteful makeup. Breaking into angry tears, she got up Blues’ face and snarled, “It’s just not fair! I’ve almost got enough saved to buy myself the right parts and what happens?! **_You!_** Why do you have to keep not staying dead again?! Do you or that little blue asshole realize King takes all the repair costs out of our paychecks?! You have no idea how many years I’ve waited to get out of this lousy body and into a female one. **_AND JUST WHEN I AM THIS FUCKING CLOSE, YOU HAVE TO FUCK IT UP ALL OVER AGAIN!_** ”

            “Josephine? Shut up and RUN!” snapped the scruffy Joe as he tried to wiggle free. All his effort earned him was a quick boot to the head.

“Sorry,” Blues said gently, gently wiping her cheek. “Here. You’re mascara’s running, miss.”

“You… you’re not going to shot me?”

 “Of course not, Miss… Josephine, right?” Draping an arm around her shoulder, Blues gave her a reassuring pat. Then he smiled as an idea struck him, steering her over to the wall and leaning in close as he said in a very friendly tone, “Miss, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Nobody’s getting shot today. I promise you. In fact, I’m going to do you a big favor. But you’ll have to do one for me.”

Josephine stared at him warily. “What kind of favor?”

Blues pulled out a notepad and pen. He quickly wrote a letter, making sure to add certain specific instructions to the end before he took out an envelope and sealed it inside. Putting just one very important little word on the front, he held it out toward Josephine. “What I need you to do is take this to Metal. And you are not, under an circumstances, to open this letter. It’s only for Metal’s eyes, is that clear?”

“O-o-okay,” she whimpered, taking the letter.  “Uh, do you mind letting us go now?”

“Oh! Of course. Have a very lovely day, Miss Josephine.” Blues took a step back to let her go over to the other Sniper Joe, then stood by as they both ran as fast as they could down the hallway.  He waited till they disappeared from sight, then considered his next move. If the girl did what he told her to do, that would take care of getting Metal’s goat. But who next? Which one of the idiots would he be able to goad the fastest….

“The **_fastest_**? Oh yes. He’ll do perfectly…” Blues grinned and, using a backdoor to a secret passageway, head off to meet his next victim.

 

_Meanwhile, somewhere else in the base…._

Quietly following after Snake, Zero went into the serpentine robot’s quarters and sat down on the sofa. He watched and waited while Snake rummaged around for his stash box. Without a word, Zero sat there as Snake smoked the joint in just one deep drag.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” rasped Snake in a cloud of dank smelling smoke. “I’m ssssseriousssss, boy! Jussssssssst what the fuck were you thinking fuckin’ Rock? Do you have any idea what kind of ssssshitsssstorm’sss goin’ to go down over thissss, do you Blondie?”

“Rock asked me for help, so I helped,” Zero replied meekly, smiling as he idly petted Shelia the Iguana when she waddled along the back of the sofa.

“And who’ssss gonna ssssave your asssssss when the otherssss find out?”

Rolling his eyes with a huff, Zero said, “If they want to challenge me again, they are welcome to try. But I think we both know how it will end, Snake.”

“That’ssssss the point! Thissssss time there won’t be any **_challengessssss._** " Leaning down, Snake cupped Zero’s face in his hands as he looked him dead in eye and said in a grave whisper, “ ** _They will desssssstroy you._** They aren’t going to fuck around trying to prove who’sssss better than who thissss go round. The minute they figure out you popped wee lil’ Rock-o’s cherry, all Hell isssss gonna break loosssse! They’re gonna hunt you down like a fucking dog… And then there’ssss absssssolutely nothing I can do to protect or sssssave you, Blondie!”

“I do not need you to **_save_** me, Snake,” grumbled Zero as he pulled away from the larger robot. “I am more than able to protect myself, thank you very fucking much.”

“Not thissssss time, boy-o!” Snake snapped, blowing out a thick cloud of smoke. “This isssss different. Once the Little Blue Assssssshole getssssss involved, everything goessss **_bad_**. But if you jusssssst keep you’re big mouth ssssssshut, I might be able to take care of thisssss messssss, okay? I know thessssse ssssssonsssss of bitchesssssss a thousssssssand timessss better than you do, Blondie! Jussssssst trying to keep my idiot brothersssss from finding out it wassssss you issssss gonnna be a living nightmare, and that’sssss perssssuming they don’t get one of the other cuntsssss to ‘help’. But I think I can stall ‘em all long enough to give you an alibi. We jusssst need to figure out a nice, sssssensible ssssstory to cover your assssss. All you need to do Blondie isssss what I tell you to do and we might jussssst sssssstop them from putting you into the ssssssscrap heap. And I pray your bassssstard brother hasssssn’t caught wind of thissssss becaussssse I really don’t know what to do if **_Basssssss_** findssssss out…”

Zero yawned, accepting the offered joint. “I am not afraid of them, Snake. Even my brother is no real threat. I mean, honestly?” He took a deep drag and grinned as he blew out a cloud of smoke. “What the fuck can those losers do to me?”

“More than you can imagine, lil boy,” said Snake with a snarl as he took the joint back. “Look, thisssss more than the fact you fucked Rock-o the Little Blue Bassssstard. That’sssss jussssst gonna be the proverbial ssssstraw that breakssss your ssssssssmug face. Ssssssee, you’ve already hurt their **_PRIDE_** once Blondie with your little…eh-hehe, coming out party…”

“That has nothing to do with what Rock and I did.”

“IT HASSSSS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND THE LITTLE SSSSSSHIT DID!” roared Snake in a thunderous rage, no longer bothering to stifle his real voice. When he noticed the still defiant glare on Zero’s face, Snake slumped miserably. “Lissssten, I know you don’t think it matterssss, that it wassss jusssst a harmlessssss little pity fuck on hissss part, but thissss is very ssssserioussss. You crossssssssed the **_line_**  by fucking the little ssssshit. And I repeat: **_EVERYTHIING_** changessss when the lil’ blue asssssssshole getssss invloved,” Snake grumbled as he passed the joint back to Zero.

Smile going cold, Zero said quietly, “Do not call Rock that again.”

“Feh! I’ll call him whatever I like! The lil’ ssssshit’ssss jusssst ssssigned your fuckin’ death warrant! And don’t think that’ssss not how thissss will end. People are gonna get hurt, Blondie, and they’re gonna get hurt **_bad_**. Becaussssse they aren’t jusssst gonna go after **_you_** , Blondie… I’ve ssssseeen it happen before. One of ‘em ssssstartssssss getting cozy with Rock-o, then another one getsssss jealoussssss and then ssssssomebody elssssse jumpsssss in and then…. Well, let’ssss jusssst sssssay it’ssss gonna get really **_nasssssty_** really fassst, my boy. And thisssss jusssst what happenssss when thingssss are between my _brotherssss_ , Blondie. They’re gonna make thingssss a lot worsssse on **_you_**. No quessssstionssss assssked. No hesssitation. And no quarter given,” said Snake with a heavy sigh as he sat down beside Zero. He passed the joint and continued in a weary tone. “They’ll make your death hellissssssh and brutal, boy-o. And they all remember what happensssss whenever sssssomebody triesssss to take you on alone in a ssssstraight up fight. None of ‘em are gonna be sssstupid enough to try that again, I’ll tell you what!”

“So you are saying they will try and attack me all together this time?” Zero just took another hit and laughed. “Then let them come! I do not fear the garbage.”

Snake let out an annoyed hiss, stroking his pet for comfort. “No. That ain’t how they’ll do thingssss, Blondie. I mean, if they ever find out it wasssss you, they’re gonna ssssset you up. Maybe catch you out sssssome place alone and help you have a little ‘accident’. Oh, they might not usssssually cooperate but like I ssssaid, when Rock’sssss involved…” Snake took a deep hit, letting the smoke out in a long stream. “And that’sssss not even going into how **_pisssssssed_** Sssstar’sss gonna be when he findsssss out.”

“What does he have to be upset about?” grumbled Zero, taking a hit and passing it back to Snake. “I honestly fail to see why Star would be angry about what I did. He was the one who said he wanted a **_man_**. And I am no longer a virgin who does not know what he is doing, so now I can give him exactly what he wants!”

Snake only laughed dryly and lapsed into silence. He stared up at the ceiling for a long time, passing the joint back and forth to Zero several times before finally coming to a decision. “Lisssssten Blondie, if anyone asssssksss what happened, I want you to tell ‘em we fucked. Yessssss… You tell ‘em I gave you a pity fuck. I mean, isssssn’t that what Rock-o did for you? Gave it up because you moping over Sssstar? And if they asssssk you about who fucked Rock, you tell that Bluesss did it.  Becaussssse that’sssss not only believable, but Lieutenant Basssstard honesssstly desssservessss to get hisssss head kicked in.”

Zero zoned out a moment as he looked up the meaning of the one phrase Snake kept using. Eyes shifting from normal blue straight to black within blue, Zero snarled quietly, “Rock felt only did that because **_sorry for me?!_** ”

“Oh, calm down and jusssst hear me out! Thissssss issss for your own good,” grumbled Snake in an annoyed tone. “Everybody’sssss gonna notice that you ain’t pinging anymore. And out of all the people you know, I’m the leassssst terrified of you and I’d be the mosssst likely to fuck you due to being a desssseperate, dirty old man. It’ssss jusssst the logical outcome, okay? I’d tell you to sssssay you losssst your virginity to Sssstar causssse everybody already asssssumessssss you’re dating him, but…”

Zero giddily smiled as he leapt to his feet. “But what? If the bastards want to keep assuming things about Star and I, then why not make it be the truth for once? And believe me, I am going to give them plenty to talk about when we are done tonight! I am going to see Star right now and give him everything he has ever wanted! And then I swear to god I am going to make this the happiest night of his life!”

Snake stared at him in confusion. “What? What the fuck makessss you think Ssssstar’ssss going to be happy about any of thisss?!”

“Because now I am a **_man_** ,” replied Zero in a pleasant tone. “A **_MAN_** who needs no pity!”

Before Snake could react, Zero was out the door and on his way to Star’s quarters. For a long moment, he sat wondering if he should chase after the boy. Realizing there’d be no talking the boy out of being an idiot this time,  Snake slumped back down on the couch and rolled another joint as he tried to decided his next move.

 After a moment of deliberation, he finally realized he had no other course but to do the worst thing he could possibly do. Snake had hoped there could be another way to do this without getting poor, dear, innocent Star involved, yet there was no other solution. Besides, with the way the lout had gone out of his way to fuck over everyone but (ironically) Star,  Snake simply could not pass up the chance to finally give Gravity **_exactly_** what he deserved. He went over to a small communication console. It took only a minute to wipe up a cloned phone good enough to fool even a military grade checker. Then all he needed was to make a quick call to Shadow and, after nearly breaking into tears pleading, he had everything necessary to do the deed.

Snake hesitated only at the very end, just as he was poised to broadcast it to almost every single robot in Northern California.  There was nothing to make him absolutely certain that it would work. To be honest, given who was involved (not to mention how shitty the quality was…), it was more likely the others were never going to believe it was real. Well, they wouldn’t except for the tiny, little, itty-bitty fact that ever since the lout started dating Star, he had been openly gloating about all the information he’d “ _acquired_ ” from Snake. The stupid idiot had even recently taken to picking fights only to immediately play to victim whenever Star was around. And it was all because they’d promised their little brother that they would be “ _nice_ ” to the lout…

As long as Gravity never did anything to hurt Star, that is.

And the more Snake thought about it, the more he was certain that no matter how unbelievable the footage was (and it being shot on shitty-o!), this would be good enough for other to use as the perfect excuse to get rid of Gravity at last. Especially since he’d taken pains to put Star among the very first recipients. The lout may have taken care to avoid letting Star find out about his little side job, but given that this involved Blondie at his most stupid and horrible… Well, Gravity never did bother to hide how much he hated the boy, even from Star. This was just the kind of stunt he’d pull to get Blondie out of Star’s life like he’d done to Jewel and Toppy.

With only one final pause to add in on last little photo, Snake clicked the send button. Once he’d gotten the confirmation that his little bundle of nastiness had gone through, he calmly brought up three screens worth of surveillance cameras in and around Gravity’s office. Snake got up only briefly to get a drink and load up a hookah before he settled in to watch and wait. It wouldn’t do to miss all the fun, after all.

 

_15 March 2014 18:18:49 Uniform  
_ _Whale Gulch, California_

            The heavy thump of blows rapidly hitting leather echoed throughout the dry-dock turned makeshift gym.  Panting and grunting softly, a youngish man with a face hidden by a red hoodie aggressively beat his wrapped fists and shins against a punching bag. It was only the sheer speed of the young man’s moments and the telltale joints that proved he was a robot. Curled up near his side like a family dog was Wiley’s dragon, it’s massive form reflected in the mirrors lining the opposite wall.  It was only the occasional snort of smoke that showed it was still active, if only sleeping. The other robot was too wrapped up in his training to notice that someone else had walked into the room.

 “You know, it’s going to take _months_ for you to bulk up that way,” Blues said mildly as he lit a cigarette. “You ought to just go get yourself a full mysofiber re-weave. It’d be—heh-heh— ** _quicker_**.”

The young man froze and finally turned towards Blues. Bright blue eyes glared out from under the hood. “I don’t ‘ave to _cheat,_ unlike cunts like you. Now, fuck off!”

“Look, I didn’t come here because to enjoy your company, Quick,” growled Blues, his voice still quiet but now filled with rage. “Did you **_touch_** my baby brother?”

“Which one? You’ve got a fuckin’ ‘oard of ‘em!”

“You know **_exactly_** who I’m talking about, Quick, so don’t play stupid with me. Now tell me the truth: Did you touch ** _Rock_**?”

Snorting in disgust, Quick picked up a pair dumbbells and laid down on the bench to do flies. “Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?! I’ve touched ‘im quite a bit… Punchin’ ‘is ugly face in! Or did you forget I was **_made_** to wreck the lil’ shit!”

“What an… ** _interesting_** choice of words…” Strolling over to the bench, Blues waited till Quick’s arms were outstretched mid-rep before straddling him and grasping both his wrists. He wrenched down hard on Quick’s arms, forcing them down almost to the floor as he got up in his face. “You have one last chance, you piece of shit. _Did you **fuck ** my little brother?!_”

“Are you fuckin’ mental?! Why the ‘ell would I fuck ‘im? ‘e’s my **_rival_** ,” snapped Quick, trying and failing to dislodge Blues.  “Any way, even if I did want to, I can’t ‘cause Rock-o doesn’t ‘ave a dick!”

“Well, he’s got one **_now_** ,” Blues sneered, letting go of Quick’s wrists as he leaned back. “And **_somebody’s_**   used it.”

The weights hit the floor with a thud as Quick sat up on his elbows. “Wha’ the fuck do you mean? When did lil’ Rock-o get one? And how the fuck do you even know that?!”

“ ** _I mean  he was_** **_fucking some guy with long blonde hair and blue eyes!”_** roared Blues as he grabbed hold of Quick’s collar. “Now tell me the truth: Was it you?!”

“No! I’ll give you the blue eyes, but I ain’t got long hair and I ain’t a blonde, okay?” Quick angrily jerked back his hood and pointed at the short, spikey mess. “See? I’m a fuckin’ GINGER!”

Blues just stared at him for a long moment, lip curling into a nasty sneer. “You look blonde to me…”

“Oh, I can’t fuckin’ believe this shit!” snapped Quick. “My ‘air’s goddamn bright fuckin’ red! You’d ‘ave to be fuckin’ colorblind not to tell the difference!”

Without a comment, Blues stood up and, flicking aside the butt of his cigarette, started pacing the room. Lighting up another, Blues said in an anxious tone, “So it couldn’t have been you, could it?”

“For the last fuckin’ time, **_NO!_** I didn’t fuck yer idiot brother!”

Taking a deep drag, Blues cursed under his breath and inhaled sharply to calm himself. Voice breaking slightly, he asked, “Who… who else do you know who’s blonde, long-haired, has a slender build and blue eyes? A person with a rather aloof, fey sort of attitude? Someone who could pass easily as a very beautiful woman?”

“Why the ‘ell are you askin’ me for?!”

“Because I thought it was…” Blues choked up suddenly, stifling a sob. He took a deep breathe to calm himself. “Oh god… Please tell me it wasn’t **_him_** …”

“Wasn’t who?” asked Quick as he got to his feet. “I mean, that…that kind of sounds like Crash.”

“Could it have been him?” asked Blues, his voice pleading and shaky. “Please. Tell me Crash finally got hands and…and… Oh please… Please for the love of god tell me it was Crash… Dear god, I could understand if it’d been Crash, but not…not… ** _that_**.”

Quick’s brow furrowed as he watched Blues’ uneasy pacing. “I don’t think my wee baby brother did it, though… I mean, yeah, Crash wants to fuck Rock and ‘e’s got a fuckin’ ‘ead of ‘air like Rapunzel. And as much as I ‘ate to admit it, my baby brother can easily pass ‘imself off as a very lovely lady. But ‘e’s a ginger too. Anyway, ‘e **_knows better_**. Oh, and ‘e ain’t got no ‘ands! That, and ‘e’s eyes are green, not blue too. I’d say Bubble but ‘e’s as fuckin’ far from slender as he possible can be. Anyway, ‘is hair’s too short.” He smirked nastily as he chuckled, “Though Bubble’d ‘ave a nice set of tits if ‘e ever packed ‘em up into a bra.”

“If it’s not them, then who?”

“Could’ve been one of the Roll clones,” muttered Quick, nervously twisting the bandages on and off his hands. “All those lil’ sla—eh, those _charming young ladies_ fit the description. And the bitches all ‘ave a…a thing for the little Blue Asshole like Roll does. Fuck, it might ‘ave been Roll for all you know! So why don’t you just go bother them?!”

 “No. I am very certain Rock wasn’t with a _woman_.”

“Oh really? And ‘ow did you figure that?”

“Because to do what my brother was doing requires the other person to have a dick…”

Quick gave him a slightly disgusted look mixed with a noticeable jealous rage. “…did you fuckin’ seriously peep on yer own brother while ‘e was given some fuckin’ asshole head?!”

Laughing hollowly, Blues gave the other robot a cold, dead smile. “Believe me, it wasn’t by _choice_. Now, who could have possible **_forced_** Rock to do such...such vile things!”

In a quiet tone, Quick said, “Well, Bass just might. I mean, he’s fuckin’ stupid enough but he doesn’t look like a pretty blond slag. ” Frowning in thought, his eyes flashed brighter as a horrible idea began occurring to him. “There’s only one person who fits: **_Blondie_**. I mean, ‘e’s exactly the sort of stuck-up, brainless, entitled little pretty boy who’d think ‘e was God’s gift that you’d be lookin’ for. But even that motherfuckin’ pieces o’ shit wouldn’t be stupid enough to… I mean, Blondie’s a mean, rotten fuckin’ bastard who thinks ‘e can do whatever ‘e please but ‘e _wouldn’t_ …. ‘e _couldn’t_ do **_that_**! **_Not to my lil’ Rock-o_**.”

“But he _did_ , Quick!” replied Blues, his voice choked and hysterical. “The monster _would_. He **_could_**. And he **_did_**.”

“YOU’VE GOT NO PROOF!” Quick shouted back. He started to add something else, but a sudden burst of loud music interrupted him. Glaring at Blues, he got out his phone and took a look at what he’d been texted. Quick stared at whatever it was in mute horror, the anger in his eyes growing hotter the further down he scrolled. Finally, he angrily threw the phone aside and disappeared out the door so fast he left a faint after-image behind.

Once he was sure Quick wasn’t coming back, Blues went over and calmly picked up the very battered phone. He stared at the text for a long time, scrolling through the images with stoic silence and staring at the sender’s number. One brief cross-reference was all he needed to discover the sender’s identity but he ran a more thorough check just to make sure. Finally, Blues sat the phone gently on the weight bench and went over to a mirror.

“I cannot fucking believe he’d be that _stupid_ ,” he said to himself in a soft voice as he straightened his tie. “I thought I was very clear on the matter: my little siblings are off limits. Especially Rock and Roll. But what does that jealous little shit do?” Grinning coldly, Blues readjusted his glasses and fixed his hair. “He goes and does the one thing I specifically warned him not to do. After everything I’ve done for that lousy, dickless, brown-nosing ingrate. This is how he thanks me? There’s no other recourse now: I’m going to have to kill him.” He fished out a pack of cigarettes and popped on in his mouth. With only a small trembling of his hands to betray his fury, Blues fumbled for his lighter. “My most productive little mole to date and now I’ve got to kill him before he blows my cover.”

 Suddenly a hand reached out from the mirror and held out a lighter identical to his own. “Oh, and because he’s trying to ruin Rock’s life.”

“Well, of course! I thought that was a given,” said Blues, lighting up before he realized his reflection wasn’t a reflection. He barely had time to duck when his double swung a blade at his throat. The double then charged him, leading to a brief struggle before Blues managed to throw the double off and get enough space to ready a charged shot. He only hesitated when he noticed that the double had a broken blade on the same hand as he did and the creepy awareness that this double _was_ Blues, too.

“ ** _This is all your fault_**!” snarled the double, taking advantage of the pause to ready his own blaster.

“No,” Blues replied in a dry tone. “This is actually Gravity’s fault. He’s the one who got the pictures.”

The double glared at him. “I meant what they did to poor little Rock! If you hadn’t **_abandoned_** them, none of this would have ever happened!”

“Abandoned? **_I never abandoned anyone_**! **_HE ABAN—_** …” Blues stopped short of a screaming rant, then said in a quiet tone, “The doctor was going to kill me. I left to save myself!”

“Yeah, I’d expect that from a **_coward_** like **_you_** ,” rasped the double. “Well, unlike you, **_I stayed_**. I did the **_RIGHT_** thing. For myself…and for my **_FAMILY_**.”

Blues only allowed himself to slight frown, disengaging his blaster with a shrug. “The right thing? Let me repeat: I left because the doctor was going to **_erase_** me. Not simply _kill_ me, but **_erase me_**. Because I was _defective._ Because I was his biggest **_failure_**. If I hadn’t…”

“You’d never had to go to **_Wily_**!” hissed the double, still poised to fire but looking a bit unsure. “I know what I… what _you_ thought, but it wasn’t really ever going to be like that! Dad was never going to erase anything. He…he just needed a little more time to figure out the bug in my system. And…and he did! Just in the nick of time, too. Then Wily went and…”

“And stole the other Light bots?” Blues asked, crossing his arms. “Then poor little Rock became Megaman.”

“No. Rock didn’t. Because there never had to **_be_** a Megaman! Because there was **_Protoman_**.” Angry and shaking now, the double rasped, “I did what **_you_** should have done! I took up the fight so Rock and Roll would never have to. So they’d have **_peace_**! Everything I did was for them! I moved heaven and hell to keep them safe! Unlike you, I protected them!”

“Then what are you doing _here_?”

The double started, dropping his guard completely. “I… I…”

Before the double could fully recover, Blues shifted into the **_other_** armor and took the pointblank shot easily. Casually, he aimed for the center of his double’s torso and shot him down with his shoulder gun. He watched coolly as the double collapsed to the floor, twitching and sparking, then went over to confirm the kill.

The double barely managed to turn his head and, smiling madly up at Blues, whispered quietly, “Vile.”

There was a sickening crunch as Blues brought his boot down again, and again, and again…and again.  Once there was nothing left of the double’s face but a nasty mess of metal and silicone, Blues stopped and took a step back to regain his composure. He shifted back to civilian clothes and turned to leave, then stopped and went back over the double. He methodically went through all the double’s pockets, emptying them out and stashing the contents away to study later. It was only when he found the double’s wallet that Blues paused and looked through it. For a long, painful time he knelt there, staring sadly at pictures of a life that _could_ have been.

“This is a set-up…” Blues rasped, angrily stuffing the wallet in his pocket alongside both his lighters. “This is someone using a sick mind game to get to me. But it’s not. I’m not falling for this bullshit! Do you hear me?”

 He glared around, as if expecting someone to answer. When nothing happened, Blues calmly grabbed hold of the double’s body and, after giving the dragon a gentle nudge in the snout, quickly tossed it in the eager beast’s mouth. Unable to shake that eerily sickening feeling at watching what could’ve have been **_his_** corpse being chomped to pieces, Blues silently crept out of room and down the hall towards the nearest teleporter bank.

_15 March 2014 19:07:49 Uniform  
_ _Off-shore City, Monsteropolis (formerly the Kuril Islands)_

Hobbling down the hall, Bubble glanced up at the door numbers until he finally reached one he’d been looking for. He leaned heavily on his cane as he double checked the number and made sure he brought along what he needed. Once he was satisfied he was ready, Bubble calmly opened the door and stepped inside.

“I can explain!” Gravity barked as he peeked up from underneath the protection of his desk. It was only when he got a good look at his guest that he stood up, frowning in contempt. “Oh, it’s _you_.”

“Yeah, it’s me,” said Bubble politely. “I’d like to have a little word with you right now.”

“Look, I really haven’t got the time for you...” huffed Gravity.

Bubble calmly shifted so he was leaning both hands on his cane. “I think you need to **_make_** time, then.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Gravity laughed as he went over to the other robot. “Are you trying to intimidate me? **_You?!_** ”

“Yeah. I am.”

Gravity stared right in Bubbles face, then doubled over in laughter. When he finally got hold of himself, he sneered at the other robot. “Oh, for god’s sake! I cannot believe such a pathetic excuse for scrap like you is trying to scare me!”

Still calm, Bubble said gently, “I think you need to be very afraid of me.”

“You’re fucking joking, right?! Why the hell would anyone be afraid of stupid, fat, useless Bubble Man?!” barked Gravity as he turned his back to the other robot. “You must be the least impressive robot ever built! I mean, what’s the worst you can do? Moisten me with bubbles?”

“Little boy,” began Bubble in a soft, cold tone. “If I were you, I’d shut my mouth now.”

“Whatever for?! It’s not like you can hurt me!” Giggling, Gravity flopped back into his desk chair. “Remember? You told Star dearest that none of you shitheads would lay a hand on me.”

“As long as you never harmed Star.” Moving to the desk, Bubble picked a phone from under the papers it’d been hidden under. He took a glance at it, then held it up so Gravity could look at the screen. “I think this is going to hurt Star. It’s going to hurt him quite a lot.”

“I had nothing to do with that!” snarled Gravity as he angrily smacked Bubble’s hand away. “What kind of idiot do you think I am?! I’ve never used my own phone for that kind of thing.”

Bubble gave the younger robot a frosty look. “You’re not even going to lie about being a blackmailer?”

“Why? Who’d believe you, lard-ass?” When Bubble only continue to glare, Gravity sighed and rolled his eyes. “Look, I don’t know why you care. I mean, honestly, it’s got nothing to do with you.”

“That,” said Bubble pointing at the screen. “That is Rock, isn’t it?”

Gravity squinted at the image. “Eh, well, maybe? Could be one of those little fucking copies…”

“It’s Rock.”

“Then why the hell did you ask me for?!” Lurching to his feet, Gravity grabbed the phone back and began pacing the room as he scrolled back through the message. “I told you I had nothing to do with any of this shit! Anyway, what the hell do I care if the little blue asshole got laid? Granted, it is a perfect way to remove of that nasty blonde monster. Never let a good crisis go to waste, as they say!  Oh, and as a bonus, it looks I’ll finally get rid that little slag too! And maybe get Pharaoh to give me a nice, fat payment or two to keep the Light bots from killing him. Now, why don’t you bother the Big Blonde Bitch and get the fuck out of my office?!”

“No.”

Gravity stopped mid-stride. “No? What the hell do you mean, ‘no’? I just told you I had nothing to do with this, you stupid fat fuck!”

“I know you had nothing to do with it.”

“Then why the hell are you still here?!” snapped Gravity. Then in a friendlier tone, he asked, “By the way, who did do this? Was it Flash? No, couldn’t have been him… This is too badly shot. Can’t be Shadow, either. Wouldn’t wanna piss off his ex… Snake? It’s was Snake, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. It was.”

Gravity only gave him a funny look. “And how, exactly, did you know it was Snake?”

“Because he’s the one who ‘accidently’ took that picture of Pharaoh bandaging Roll’s thigh.”

“Really?” snorted the younger robot as he looked at the last picture again. “You expect me to believe **_that’s_** what they’re doing?”

“Yes, because if you look at the positions, there really isn’t any way he could be…well, you know, with her.”

“Oh. Oh, yeah! I see it now… Pharaoh’d have to have a tongue over a foot long to reach that far. But enough of this shit. I’ve got to remind a big stupid snake about our little business agreement….” Gravity started towards but was stopped short by Bubble grabbing his arm.

“Listen, you miserable lump of fat! I haven’t got time for your bullshit.”

“And I told you to **_make_** time.”

“Really?! Honestly, lard-ass, you are far out of your league here. Ah, fuck! Who am I kidding?! None of you idiots can take me! I mean, look…” With a huff, Gravity causally raised the gravity in the room, forcing Bubble down to his knees. “See? Barely ten times Earth’s apparent gravity at sea level, and all you little fucks crumple up like empty tin cans. None of you can handle even a little extra pressure! You really are pathetic.”

With a soft laugh, Bubble gripped his cane in both hands like a club and calmly stood up. “Pathetic? Really, Gravity, using an increase in **_pressure_**? I was fucking **_MADE_**   to handle high pressures. I’ve done fucking twelve day hikes along the bottom of the Marina Trench for funsies! Now, I’ve never been a violent man… But you just cross that one little line with me, you sorry motherfucker.”

Before Gravity could recover from his shock, Bubble swung hard and sent the younger robot crashing to his knees. Without a pause, Bubble continued beating on Gravity for several minutes until his cane finally was too bent out of shape to effectively hit with. Bubble took hold of the slightly twitching mess and dragged it behind the desk. Next he took a big, heavy crowbar out of his shunt space and, after giving Gravity a few more whacks for good measure, cleaned up any traces he’d been at the scene. He took a moment to straighten out and wipe off his cane, then hobbled out the door, almost colliding with a very shocked Blues.

“Here!” said Bubble cheerfully as he dropped the crowbar into Blues hand.

Blues looked down at the crowbar, then cautiously went past Bubble. He stopped by the desk, staring down at the mess. Then he looked back at Bubble, the astonished disbelief plain on his face. “You? **_You did this?_** ”

“Yeah. But who’s gonna believe you?” Smiling behind his facemask, Bubble activated the intruder alarms before teleporting out to leave Blues to his fate.

 

 


End file.
